Blue Nile beefs up board

Leading diamonds and fine jewelry online retailer Blue Nile has added Scott Howe to its board of directors, effective Jan. 1, 2014. Howe is president and CEO of Acxiom Corporation, an enterprise data, analytics and software-as-a-service company.



Prior to his current role, Howe was corporate VP of Microsoft Advertising Business Groups, where he managed a multibillion-dollar business encompassing all emerging businesses related to online advertising including search, display, in-game, mobile, digital cable and a variety of enterprise software applications.



"Scott's world-class corporate experience, online marketing prowess, and big data know-how is a perfect fit for Blue Nile as we continue to build our global brand," said Harvey Kanter, Blue Nile president and CEO.



Howe was also a corporate officer at aQuantive, where he managed three lines of business, including Avenue A | Razorfish, one of the world's largest digital agencies, DRIVE Performance Media (now Microsoft Media Network) and Atlas International, one of the top two applications for enterprise software for advertising. Earlier in his career, he was with the Boston Consulting Group and Kidder, Peabody & Company



Howe serves on the board of directors for the Center for Medical Weight Loss, and is a former director of the Internet Advertising Bureau and Turn, a digital advertising company.



He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in economics from Princeton University in 1990 and received an MBA from Harvard University in 1994.



With the addition of Howe, there will be nine members on Blue Nile's board.