Mark Hughes grew eBay’s Half.com from zero to 8 million customers as its VP of Marketing and PR in less than 3 years. He did that by out-thinking versus out-spending.

He literally put Half.com on the map by convincing Halfway, Oregon to rename itself to Half.com, Oregon…dubbed by Time magazine as “one of the greatest publicity coups” in history. eBay bought the company six months after launch for $300 million.

Hughes’ marketing background spans from big brands, running $40 million budgets, to small start-ups where marketing dollars prove ever so precious.

Before eBay’s Half.com, Hughes spent his career working for: PepsiCo’s Pizza Hut Division (NYSE: YUM) ; Pep Boys, the automotive aftermarket retailer (NYSE: PBY); and American Mobile Satellite (now XM Satellite Radio).

Mr. Hughes holds his MBA from Columbia Business School in Marketing & International Business. He is a contributing columnist for the magazine of international advertising knowledge, Admap.

He is the son of a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, and his book, “Buzzmarketing” from publisher Penguin/Portfolio, has received accolades from: Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream; Steve Forbes of Forbes Magazine; the former Chief Marketing Officer of Pepsi-Cola; and the former executive editor of The Wall Street Journal.

In its first year of publication, Fast Company proclaimed Hughes’ book one of “The Ten Best Business Reads of the Year” and the Financial Times of London named it one of the “Best Business Books of the Year” along with Freakonomics.

Click here to view Hughes’ professional speaker reel.