Well that didn't take long! Yesterday, when we told you about Greenberg & Lieberman acquiring the escrow platform developed by EscrowHill.com, we noted that EscrowHill Founder Andee Hill intended to stay in the domain industry and that an announcement about her next stop was expected soon. That announcement came this morning when Donuts, the largest operator of new gTLD registries, revealed that Ms. Hill officially joined their staff Monday (July 6) as Director of Business Development. 

At Donuts Andee will report to Dan Schindler, the company's Executive VP for Business Development.  Word came in an email from Donuts Communications VP Mason Cole who noted Andee would have "specific responsibility for relationships with the domain investor community. Cole added, "Donuts has long believed domain investors are a critical element of the industry, one deserving of an emphasis in time and

Donuts Executive VP for Business Development Dan Schindler and the company's new Director of 
Business Development Andee Hill. 

resources. Andee's leadership will be critical in developing these relationships and leveraging investors' interest in new domain names."

That should be music to the domain investor community's ears as many in it have often felt their financial support of the industry was often undervalued and under appreciated. While every registry operator needs end users to develop their domains to increase recognition of their extensions, they also need (but don't always acknowledge) investors who often buy (and renew) hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of domain names. From the standpoint of registration revenue - the life blood of any registrar - one customer who buys 1,000 domains is worth just as much as 1,000 customers who buy only one name each. While developers may bring more public recognition, it is a lot easier to handle one account and personal relationship than a thousand different ones - making both camps - end users and investors - equally important in our view. 

In Ms. Hill Donuts has brought on board someone who already has a very high number of investor relationships in place after her many years with Escrow.com, then with her own shop, allowing her to hit the ground running. Given the job description for the position Donuts wanted to fill, Ms. Hill should fit the bill.