• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, February 2, 2006

Kate Everett-Thorp, who resigned as interactive president of interactive at AKQA about two weeks ago, will become a venture partner at WaldenVC, a San Francisco venture capital firm that invests in technology companies.

She will start at Walden on Monday, while she continues to look for a new position--most likely at a start-up.

"This really puts me in a catbird seat," she said. "Where else could you get access to seeing such early stage companies?"

Everett-Thorp co-founded Internet agency Lot 21 in 1998, with Walden as one of the early backers. She said she'd like to again be part of a small entrepreneurial company--one with around 20 employees, as opposed to the 400-some now at AKQA.

Since leaving AKQA, Everett-Thorp has so far met with three companies searching for CEOs and a fourth looking for a president. Everett-Thorp, an OMMA magazine Online All Star, said she's especially interested in the mobile space and consumer-generated media.

Walden managing director Steve Eskenazi, who has known Everett-Thorp since the Lot 21 days, recruited her to the venture capital firm. He said her experience would be helpful with several current investments, including online ad network Blue Lithium.

He also said that Everett-Thorp might be a good fit for a company that comes to Walden seeking funding and needs an experienced entrepreneur or CEO. "We can offer her the ability to see a broader market," he said.

Another colleague at WaldenVC will be online veteran Rich LeFurgy, former director and chairman of the Interactive Advertising Board.

Everett-Thorp isn't the only high-profile executive to recently depart an agency recently. Last month, Carat Fusion president Toby Gabriner left to join Poindexter Systems as CEO; also, Adam Gerber recently left MediaVest, where he headed up the new media strategy, to join Internet TV start-up Brightcove.

While at AKQA, Everett-Thorp played a key role in recent AKQA client wins. One of the largest clients that she helped bring to the agency was Coca-Cola, which awarded AKQA its global interactive business last year. Andrew O'Dell, previously senior vice president of business development--and another co-founder of Lot 21--has replaced Everett-Thorp at AKQA.