Carolina Bound

by Talk Business & Politics ([email protected]) 59 views 

John Andrews is no longer in Northwest Arkansas.

The co-founder and former CEO of Bentonville social shopper media firm Collective Bias is the new chief marketing officer for Ignite Social Media, a social media marketing agency in Cary, N.C.

Andrews, a North Carolina native, started his new job Jan. 2.

“We always felt like we’d come back to North Carolina someday,” Andrews told Whispers.

Andrews, who exited Collective Bias in June, started a media and consulting firm called The Katadhin Co. in Fayetteville just a few months ago.

Jay Thornton is now running the day-to-day there, Andrews said, and Katadhin is doing some consulting for ISM.

ISM was founded by Jim Tobin in 2007 as one of the world’s first social media agencies, with a goal of explaining to brands the best ways to calculate social media ROI.

 “I’ve known Jim since I lived in Raleigh prior to joining Walmart,” Andrews explained. “He started Ignite about the time I founded Elevenmoms at Walmart.”

Andrews said he anticipates his business development efforts will occasionally bring him back to Northwest Arkansas.