HomeESP is the brainchild of Laurence Sheinman and Ken Lempit, friends whose frequent discussions about energy, environment and the cost of living led them to a realization: there isn't anyone or anything helping homeowners to make great decisions where they live. There are finance Websites, TV shows and magazines, reality TV shows (we love "what not to wear") for fashion and home renovation, and much more. But no one was helping you to maximize the money you spend on operating and outfitting your home. So that's how we started... and this is who we are.
Laurence is a marketing/general manager type whose expertise is known to almost every American. If you've had a credit card statement mailed to your home in the last ten years you can blame Laurence for various and sundry offers jammed in your envelope. Yup... that's him. Laurence has a long history of bringing products and services to consumers, having had a career in bankcard marketing and finance (at Citibank and JP Morgan) before helping to build Synapse, a marketing firm that was ultimately bought by Time Warner. Speaking of Warner, Laurence has what might be one of the largest collections of Warner Brothers - especially Bugs Bunny - cartoon art and memorabilia. If you are lucky you might get to see it sometimes.
Ken is a self described "home geek" whose unique combination of technical skills and marketing expertise have helped realize our vision. Ken has led a regional advertising and public relations agency, Austin Lawrence Group, for more than 20 years. HomeESP is a chance for him to use all the skills he deployed for others for the benefit of HomeESP , its members and visitors. Before working in the agency business, Ken was a sales and marketing executive with Citicorp Investment Bank and IBM (where he started as a junior programmer at corporate headquarters).
The launch of HomeESP would not have been possible without the contributions of good friends Richard Levinson, John J. Manning III, Peter Drzewiecki and Greg Correll, who gave much more of themselves than HomeESP can give back to them - at least in the near term. Their handiwork is all over the site and in the thought process that you see and experience.