Exclusive: Ragy Thomas Out at Epsilon

One of the better-known names in e-mail marketing circles is apparently going to be on the market in two months.

Ragy Thomas, the man who oversaw the technological integration of Bigfoot Interactive and DoubleClick’s former e-mail unit, is leaving the Epsilon’s marketing agency now known as Purple@Epsilon. The decision is reportedly mutual.

Currently, New York-based Thomas is co-president of Purple@Epsilon along with David McRae who is based in Dallas.

Thomas was the chief technology officer of e-mail service provider Bigfoot Interactive when it was acquired by Epsilon in 2005 for $120 million. In early 2006, Epsilon acquired DoubleClick’s e-mail unit for $90 million and Thomas was put in charge of the integrating the firms’ technologies.

After a tumultuous spring and summer in which former DoubleClick and Bigfoot employees clashed, CEO Al DiGuido was fired and Thomas became president of Epsilon’s interactive group.

Until recently, McRae was president of Epsilon’s direct marketing group. McRae and Thomas became co-presidents of the newly named Purple@Epsilon when Epsilon merged its interactive group with its direct marketing group to form a full-service agency in March.

Thomas and McRae have informally been called the New York and Dallas presidents since their units were merged.

After Thomas’s departure, Purple@Epsilon will be led solely by McRae from his office in Dallas where Epsilon parent company Alliance Data Systems Corp. is located.

Thomas has agreed to stay with Purple@Epsilon through the end of June, according to Epsilon.

“Ragy has been an important part of Epsilon since joining the company after its acquisition of Bigfoot Interactive in late 2005,” the company said in a statement to this newsletter. “He has done a great job for us in this leadership role but he has decided that he would like to pursue other opportunities.”

When asked about his plans via e-mail, Thomas replied with the following statement:

“The explosive growth of the online channel in Asia and the web 2.0 wave of advertising in the U.S. present several compelling opportunities for folks with entrepreneurial dispositions. I am excited to be a part of the still-evolving Internet marketing landscape and expect to be able to announce a definite course of action over the next several months.”

In a P.S., he added: “I'm very proud of eight plus years of email marketing success that the Epsilon Interactive team enjoyed. And I remain confident of the organization's continued success.”

In other news, Epsilon yesterday announced it has hired Sally Cates as executive vice president, strategic communications. Cates will report to Steve Cone, chief marketing officer at Epsilon.

Prior to joining Epsilon, Cates was managing director, head of external communications for Thomson Financial. Before that, Cates worked at Citigroup for 11 years, most recently as managing director and head of global communications at Citigroup Wealth Management.

According to his bio on Epsilon.com, Cates’ new boss, Cone, was at one time managing director and head of advertising and brand management at Citigroup Global Wealth Management.