PayScale Management Team

Michael Metzger, Chief Executive Officer
Mike Metzger joined PayScale in 2004 as the Chief Executive Officer. Most recently, he was with MAK Partners where he focused on the evaluation of early stage companies. In 2000, Mr. Metzger joined Performant as Chief Executive Officer and President managing all aspects of building and running the company, which was sold to Mercury Interactive. Prior to his work at Performant, Mr. Metzger served as Vice President Product and Services for WRQ where he co-authored the strategic plan and vision for the company. Mike also spent time at RealNetworks where he directed software product marketing efforts, started up the Real Broadcast Network, managed the product marketing for successful launches of RealAudio 3.0 and 4.0, and led the creation and development of an ASP stream hosting business for RealNetworks, which led to over $3M in revenue in the first full year. Earlier in his career, he held various positions at Microsoft, including International Product Manager, Lead Product Manager for MS Works and Group Manager Consumer Marketing. Mr. Metzger holds an MBA in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University.

Joe Giordano, Founder, Chairman and VP Product Development
Joe Giordano founded PayScale in 2000, with twenty years of experience in designing technology and managing its development. Prior to establishing PayScale, Mr. Giordano served as Director of Program Management at drugstore.com where he led website development and helped to rapidly grow the company from inception into the leading online drugstore. Earlier in his career, he served as Director of Product Development at InfoGear Technology Corporation (acquired by Cisco) where he led project design and development for the iPhone Internet appliance, which won various industry awards such as Internet World's Best of Show and was awarded a U.S. Patent for user interface design. A Microsoft veteran, Mr. Giordano also led the design and the development of initial versions of the award-winning Microsoft Works product during the 1990s, and he later became the program management lead for the original version of The Microsoft Network (MSN), Microsoft's first online endeavor. He holds various user interface and technology design patents, served on the board of directors of iSyndicate, Inc. (now YellowBrix), and serves on the board of advisors of several other Internet companies. Mr. Giordano has a graduate degree in Music Composition from Whitman College.

Betsy Ribera, Vice President of Consumer Marketing
Betsy Ribera joined PayScale in 2004 as the Vice President of Consumer Marketing. Mrs. Ribera was previously the Director of Direct-to-Consumer Marketing at Pacific Coast Feather Company, a wholesale bedding manufacturer, where she launched the direct-to-consumer e-business while building an integrated communications strategy for the company. Prior to her work at Pacific Coast Feather Company, she held various positions at drugstore.com including Director of Customer Acquisition and Retention, Director of Strategic Planning and most recently, Senior Director of Marketing. While at drugstore.com she managed all marketing activity including customer relationships with Amazon, RiteAid, MSN and AOL. Mrs. Ribera began her career in consumer marketing at Time, Inc. serving as the Assistant Marketing Manager of LIFE and later becoming the Assistant Consumer Marketing Director at Entertainment Weekly. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

Douglas Tarr, Vice President of Engineering
Douglas Tarr joined PayScale in 2000 as a founding team member, building much of the company’s initial software and systems. Mr. Tarr has worked in software development at a number of Fortune 500 companies, with a concentration in financial systems. Most recently, he developed a trading system for the Equity Derivatives Group at JPMorgan Chase which allowed the company to function as a market maker on the Boston Options Exchange (BOX). Previously, he was Technical Lead at Levi Strauss & Co, where he developed the software that powered the company's first large scale Mass Customization project, Original Spin. Mr. Tarr started his career at Loansoft, a mortgage origination software vendor and has been a technical consultant for various companies, including Banc of America Securities, SBC (now AT&T), and Walden International. Mr. Tarr holds a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics from the University of Chicago.

Dave Smith, Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Business Development
Dave Smith joined PayScale in 2009 as the Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Business Development. Mr. Smith has over 15 years of business development, sales and product marketing experience with a number of successful, venture-backed start-ups. Prior to PayScale, Mr. Smith held several executive positions at CareerBuilder. Most recently, he launched CareerBuilder UK Ltd in 2005, as Managing Director. Under Mr. Smith's leadership, CareerBuilder UK's unique visitors grew to more than 1.4 million per month while revenue, on a run rate basis, grew to more than $5 million in less than 3 years. Prior to this, Mr. Smith was Vice President of Business Development and GM of FindTuition, a division of CareerBuilder which was launched to provide financial education and scholarship information for high school and college students. Mr. Smith was also the Director of Business Development & Product Marketing for internet-based UNICRU, which was bought for $150 million by Kronos. Mr. Smith holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from the University of Oregon and an MBA from Portland State University.

Stacey Klimek, Controller
Stacey Klimek joined PayScale in 2009 as Controller. Previously, she was Chief Financial Officer at Redhawk Group, a general contractor specializing in retail and power centers, mixed use, and office and renovation projects. Ms. Klimek possesses over 25 years of executive, financial, and administrative experience inside fast growth enterprises. Earlier in her career, Ms. Klimek held executive positions with NetMotion Wireless where she helped the company through a successful acquisition with Padcom Inc. Previously, Stacey managed accounting and finance for Captura Software prior to its merger with Concur Technologies.