WebMethods Co-Founder Finds Next Gig

Phillip Merrick joined Message Systems as CEO two months ago based on that OMG moment after hearing what the Columbia, Md., company does.

Phillip, who we snapped yesterday, says the software solves the problem of large-scale message delivery for companies that communicate with their customers through email, mobile, and text. Anti-spam protection at ISPs prevents legitimate mass emails from getting to the customer. Message Systems delivers 20% of all emails through its software, and its customers include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Paypal, and Groupon.

Phillip says the company, founded by president George Schlossnagle, is the tech community’s best kept secret, so he’s spreading the word and working on yet-to-be-announced projects that will take the 130-person company to another level. Phillip expects mobile communication to become even more of a delivery problem as adoption increases. His webMethods is one of a handful of DC-area tech companies that‘s deemed a huge success, based on its historic IPO in 2000 and then its $546M sale to Software AG in 2007.

We can’t write about Phillip without also mentioning his wife, Caren, who cofounded webMethods in 1996. She’s also busy putting together a mobile app, but Phillip says details will come when she’s ready to share. After leaving webMethods in 2004, Phillip, who grew up in Australia, kept busy as chairman of several companies, including EnterpriseDB and Rollstream, and co-launched VisualCV, a company that lets people post and share multimedia resumes. It has since been acquired. He also was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Wharton.