Ryan Allis, CEO of iContact Corp., a leading email marketing and social media marketing company, was included atop PeekYou’s latest list of America’s most influential young technology executives under the age of 30.
Allis was ranked #6 among thousands of young entrepreneurs and business leaders in an individual’s overall presence on the Internet. New York City-based PeekYou composes the list by measuring blogging experience, participation on social networks, number of followers and prominence within the news and media. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg tied for first with Pete Cashmore of Mashable and Matt Mullenwif of WordPress. Groupon’s Andrew Mason ranked 4th.
In 2003, Allis co-founded iContact at the age of 18, along with Aaron Houghton, while attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During this time, iContact has transformed email marketing for small- to medium-sized businesses, providing new ways to engage customers and extend reach through traditional and social media channels. In addition to becoming a successful email marketing and social media marketing company, iContact under Allis’ stewardship, has pioneered the model of community and social responsibility for fast growth, VC backed technology companies.
Allis carries deep philanthropic roots, as the chairman for Nourish International, a non-profit organization promoting entrepreneurial skills to college students with net profits benefitting global hunger and poverty aid. He has applied these experiences directly to iContact, building a corporate culture based around an ongoing commitment to social, environmental and economic value creation. iContact is one of only 21 companies in North Carolina to attain B Corporation status and, in 2010, the firm released its first annual Corporate Responsibility Report.
This is the latest accolade for Allis, who founded his first company – a small IT consulting business – at age 11. He has appeared on the Inc. 500 list twice, and was recognized as Ernst & Young’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year, as well as one of the “Ten Outstanding Young Americans” by the United States Junior Chamber. Allis is the author of “Zero to One Million,” published by McGraw-Hill in February 2008.
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