John J. House,
President and Chief Executive Officer
John is the founder of At Auction and serves as the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer. He is considered one of the foremost authorities and an early pioneer of online B2C auctions.
In 2001, John founded Always At Market, Inc,. Using his experience and knowledge of the B2C Internet auction space he partnered with the leading B2C auction marketplaces, developing their non-core auction categories. John is credited with developing many of the jewelry, watch, and tool categories on major B2C auction sites such as Egghead, Onsale and uBid. As Always at Market’s business shifted to more private label auction sites and managed services, the company repositioned and re-branded itself in 2008, to At Auction, a total solutions provider of B-C Internet auction managed services and technology.
From 1996 to 2001, John was a member of the upper-management team of JPD, a reseller of computer peripherals products to Wal-Mart and other major retailers. While leading JPD, John foresaw the emerging Internet auction trend and in 1997, he re-directed all of JPD’s sales activities and all of his attention to the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Internet Auction space.
John received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1984 from the University of California at Berkley where he was a four-year letterman on the Golden Bear baseball team that placed third at the 1980 College World Series. John received his Jurist Doctorate degree from the University of Santa Carla in 1987. Upon graduation John briefly practiced law with his father where he represented small to mid-size companies.
In the early 90’s John was involved as a principal in several startup and turn-around ventures. John is a member of the Society of International Business Fellows.
Geoff Smith
Executive Vice President
Geoff joined At Auction in 2009, and is responsible for the company’s business development, marketing and information technology. He is a senior level e-business executive with over 15 years of successful leadership in direct to consumer marketing, e-commerce, catalog, retail chain management, strategic and tactical planning and division startup. He is a strong general business manager with proven hands-on experience in business assessment and strategy, marketing, e-commerce, catalog marketing, P&L management, merchandising, business development, and creative/branding.
Most recently, Geoff served as Senior Vice President, E-Commerce for Value Vision Media, Inc. where he was responsible for the strategic direction and day-to-day management of ShopNBC.com and ShopNBC.TV, the $200+ million e-commerce division of ShopNBC, the 3rd largest home shopping network. Under Geoff’s leadership, ShopNBC.com ranked #65 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 sites and was named to the Internet Retailer Hot 100 best websites for 2008.
Prior to joining ShopNBC, Geoff was Senior Vice President, Interactive Commerce for Shop At Home Network, a division of the E.W.Scripps Company where he was responsible for online commerce for Shop At Home, Food Network Store, and the HGTV and DIY Stores. Geoff has also served as President, Internet Division for Creative Catalog Corp., Vice President, Retail for Hickory Farms, and Director, AOL Shopping Channel for America Online.
Susan Reding
Vice President of Merchandising
Susan joined the At Auction team in 2001 and is responsible for the company’s sourcing, auction merchandising and scheduling management. She has over twenty years experience in buying and product management, including vast experience with product development and overseas sourcing for watches, jewelry, women’s accessories, children’s accessories, and home décor. Susan is also veteran of the B2C online auction space with over 8 years of hands on experience managing auction strategy, site merchandising and auction scheduling for all of At Auctions client sites.
Prior to joining At Auction, Susan oversaw one of three major divisions for The Bombay Company and also began implementation of the Bombay Kids division. While at Bombay she managed the Wall Décor, Candles and Scents, Accessories and textile area to $100 million in annual sales. Grew the Candles and Scents, Accessories and Textile in business to a 105% increase over last year, accounting for 50% of the company growth in 1999.
Before Bombay, Susan worked for six years at Tuesday Morning overseeing a number of categories in the women’s accessories area and development of both the children’s and bath and body areas. Prior to that, she served as Director of Merchandising of over 1000 stores for the Claire’s Boutique retail chain.
John B. Walker, Jr.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
John joined At Auction in 2007, and oversees the company’s accounting, finance, human resources, and operations. He is a seasoned financial executive with over nineteen years of financial management experience in the consumer products industry including merger and acquisitions, private financing, turnaround, equity and debt financing, as well as general operations management.
Prior to joining At Auction, John enjoyed success serving as the Chief Financial Officer for Fitz & Floyd, Inc., an internationally-known designer, importer, marketer and distributor of high-end home décor and collectibles. John joined Fitz & Floyd in 1987, and after serving in several positions such as Controller, Treasurer and Vice President of Finance, he was promoted to Chief Financial Officer in 1996. John is credited with developing and implementing Fitz & Floyd’s Chapter 11 reorganization business plan, which allowed the company to emerge from bankruptcy 13 months after its initial filing. While at Fitz & Floyd, he worked with numerous private equity investors and investment groups, in addition to senior and subordinated lenders such as the Thomas H. Lee Company, Bear Sterns, Credit Suisse First Boston, the CIT Group, Fleet Capital Corporation and Bank of America Business Capital.
Prior to Fitz & Floyd, John spent 4 years at Arthur Andersen & Company as a member of their financial audit group. John is a graduate of Southern Methodist University and received his public accountant license in 1985.
