John Dowd

Founder, Precision Ads

After leaving the SEAL Teams in 2005, John served as General Manager of Pilot Direct, a direct mail subsidiary of The Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Hampton Roads, Virginia.  Having one foot in the world of direct mail and another in the world of newspapers, John became convinced that newspapers could become more valuable to small businesses by embracing the targeting that is commonplace in direct mail. 

After engineering a turn-around at Pilot Direct and restoring the company to profitability, John left to found Precision Ads to bring his newspaper vision to life.  Precision Ads enables local businesses to cost effectively advertise in the local newspaper with a large, full-color ad that prominently wraps the front of the paper.