In what’s termed in the press release as a big industry shake-up, Forge Corporation woos two of the top people away from Kowabunga. Forge is an outsourced affiliate management company that is ‘forging’ ahead and promising big things to come according to Jim Kukral at Revenews. Here is the press release:

Affiliate Marketing Industry Shake Up – Forge Corporation Ltd. Appoints New USA Branding & Sales Director - International performance marketing firm Forge Corporation Ltd. has appointed Jim Kukral and Wade Tonkin to executive roles in the United States as VP of Branding & Marketing and Director of Sales.

(PRWEB) April 27, 2006 — Forge Corporation, a global performance marketing management firm based in South Africa, announced today the appointment of two executives to their staff in the USA. Jim Kukral, formerly of KowaBunga! Technologies, will join Forge as the VP of Branding & Marketing. Wade Tonkin, who also comes from KowaBunga!, will join the firm as Director of Sales in the USA.

Both Kukral and Tonkin spent the previous 3-4 years working at KowaBunga! Technologies in similar roles, helping the firm grow from a small privately held company to a publicly traded firm during that time.

“With both Jim Kukral and Wade Tonkin now at Forge, we’ve put the final pieces together to dramatically shake up the global performance marketing consulting landscape,” said Jonathan Miller, CEO of Forge Corporation, Ltd. “Both Jim and Wade are regarded as top experts in our industry, and we couldn’t be happier to have them. Big things are in store for Forge in the next few months with these additions.”

As VP of Branding & Marketing, Kukral will be responsible for all internal and external communications, and will be tasked with launching a myriad of blog related programs and ventures. As Director of Sales, Tonkin will leverage his years of experience in the affiliate marketing industry to help online merchants obtain a return-on-investment from their performance marketing efforts.