Michael’s corporate initiatives have significantly bolstered Epsilon’s market presence and client base and firmly positioned the company among the marketing services industry elite. Michael has been active in a number of important marketing industry associations including the AOTA (Authentication & Online Trust Alliance) and the DMA (Direct Marketing Association), where he served as a founding member of the DMA’s Interactive Marketing Advisory Board (IMAB), executive chairman of the DMA’s Email Marketing Council and the Co-Executive Chairman of the DMA’s Email Experience Council. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and is regularly quoted in the media about email and integrated marketing issues facing the marketing services industry.

Prior to joining Epsilon, Michael was CMO at Bigfoot Interactive, which eventually became Epsilon’s Interactive Services group after its 2005 acquisition. While at Bigfoot Interactive, Michael established and ran Bigfoot Interactive’s marketing services offering including strategic consulting, list acquisition and creative services and played a lead role in the sales process, closing new business from leading brands including Capital One, Discover Card, Disney and Wal-Mart. Before that, he was vice president of strategic development at CNET Networks Inc., where he designed key plans to increase revenue and grow key audience segments for the Internet’s leading technology destination. Prior to that, Michael was vice president of marketing at ZDNet, which was later acquired by CNET Networks, Inc.

Michael has been consistently recognized as one of the top five most influential people in email marketing in B-to-B Magazine’s annual “100 Who’s Who in B-to-B Special Report” (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007) and is credited for his ongoing contributions to establishing industry email best practices.

Michael received a B.B.A. and an M.B.A. from Hofstra University.

His leadership in this area has lead to three consecutive Forrester and Jupiter Research leadership ranking in their annual reviews of leading email marketing service providers. In a recent Forrester Wave: Email Marketing Service Report, Forrester asserted “Epsilon Interactive has the most scalable platform and one of the most comprehensive feature sets in the industry, making it a solid choice for large companies seeking to execute high-volume, dynamic campaigns.” Within the report and subsequent reviews, Forrester added, “Founded in 1997, this vendor has been a leader in Forrester Wave evaluations of email marketing service providers since we started the evaluations in 2002. This is due to the sophistication of its DREAM platform and the depth of its professional services.” In addition to building this world-class product, Ragy also established Epsilon Interactive’s ASP client service team and played a lead role in the sales process, closing significant new business from top-tier clients including Expedia, Target, Citibank, and others.

Ragy, is a well-known thought leader who regularly participates in industry forums, including the Direct Marketing Association and National Center for Database Marketing, and is often quoted in industry media such as Click Z, Internetnews.com and Target Marketing Magazine. Ragy joined Epsilon with an accomplished record in advanced application software engineering and technology development management. Prior to Epsilon Interactive, he directed technology operations at Advaya, the email marketing solutions company later acquired by Expression Engines. At Advaya, his team developed, enhanced and operated Advaya Direct, a preeminent messaging platform that became the benchmark in direct email marketing ASP technology. Previously, Ragy held lead architect roles at AT&T’s Business Data Networks group as a consultant and at the software division of Tata Unisys (now Tata Infotech), where his team executed customized software development projects for clients such as Ford and Charming Shoppes.

Ragy, a member of Mensa, received a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from Pondicherry University, India, and an M.B.A from New York University’s Stern School of Business, with a double major in finance and information systems.