Genes Reunited Press Office
Press office sections
Press releases
- brightsolid acquires Friends Reunited - 6th August 2009
- Genes Reunited is first to put Brits on the map! - February 2009
- Genes Reunited redesign makes genealogy accessible to all - January 2009
- Going for Gold - August 2008
- One in four Brits searches for long-lost family online - July 2008
- Genes Reunited adds 1 million military records to its database - April 2008
- 'Best of British' grandmothers unveiled and honoured - January 2008
- Brown moves into centre ground but Cameron tops the poll - October 2007
- Hidden story of slavery finally uncovered by internet age - March 2007
- Genes Reunited thrives under ITV - March 2007
- Genes Reunited wins Hitwise top 10 award - March 2007
- Six degrees of separation? How about sixty - December 2006
- Tide turning on lonely nuclear family - September 2006
- Running - or walking or dancing - in the family - June 2006
- Mr Emmerdale, meet Mrs Call centre - January 2006
- We wish you a nuclear chrsitmas - December 2005
- Friends Reunited buys 1901 census website - August 2005
- Most of us have gone up in the world, new survey reveals - June 2005
- It's official. The Irish know how to throw a good party - March 2005
- Top ancestry website Genes Reunited appoints new head - January 2005
- Don't park Granny on the sofa - December 2004
Top ancestry website Genes Reunited appoints new head
Genes Reunited, the UK’s largest ancestry website and sister site of the internet phenomenon Friends Reunited, has appointed Martine Parnell as its new head. Martine replaces Michelle Barker who, after helping build the site from 650,000 members at the end of 2003 to 2.2 million by the end of last year, is returning to her native US.
Reporting to Marketing Director Tim Ward, Martine will be responsible for all aspects of the day-to-day running of the genealogy site, from driving site traffic to developing the overall business strategy including international expansion. She will direct marketing campaigns for the site and work with the design and technical team on fresh ideas to bring family tree research to the masses, breaking down popular misconceptions that the hobby is specialist and academic.
Martine joins the company from the Financial Times, where she was EMEA Senior Marketing Executive for the newspaper and FT.com website in Europe, Middle East and Africa, devising and implementing on and offline marketing strategies.
Ward said: "Genealogy is becoming a national craze as the number of people interested in the subject is growing far faster than anyone had ever anticipated. The number of Genes Reunited members has nearly quadrupled from a year ago and the number of relatives listed has soared from 7.3 million to more than 25 million, with two names now being added every second.
"Martine’s role is to build on this growth, market its appeal to a wide audience and enhance the site by adding new services.
"Michelle has done a fantastic job and we wish her well in her move back home."
For more information or to interview anyone quoted in the release contact Carolynne Bull-Edwards on: 020 79940110 or email press@friendsreunited.co.uk
Notes to the Editor - About Genes Reunited
Genes Reunited was launched in 2003 as a sister-site to the Internet phenomenon Friends Reunited. Since then it has grown to become the UK’s largest family-tree website. It marked a revolution in genealogy and ancestry by combining them with Internet social-networking. Members become ‘cyber detectives’, building their family tree by posting it on the site and investigating which ancestors they share with other members. It currently has over seven million members worldwide and over 110 million ancestors and relatives listed. One new name is added to the site every single second.
