Google executive Stickel leaves for WebTrends

Google executive Daniel Stickel has been appointed chief executive officer of US web analytics company, WebTrends. He succeeds Bruce Coleman, who took temporary control of the company in October last year.

At Google, Stickel’s was responsible for syndication products, serving hundreds of thousands of partners and tens of millions of end users. Prior to Google, Stickel led the Macrovision Software Technologies Group from 2002 to 2005 and before that, served as executive vice president at AltaVista.

Stickel says his initial focus will be to “reach out” to key customers, partners, prospects and employees in order to gain an understanding of where WebTrends is “hitting the mark” and where it needs to do better.

Last year, WebTrends saw a major shake-up among its executives, with chief executive Greg Drew departing abruptly along with three other senior executives. In January this year, the company’s chief marketing officer Tim Kopp, also left.