eBay spokesperson Kevin Purglove retired earlier this month. For more than 4 years, he fielded calls from reporters about controversial auctions, policy changes, new product introductions, lawsuits and acquisitions. He weathered tough times, like the infamous 1999 site outage in which he faced TV camera crews in eBay's parking lot; and good times, like the first eBay community conference held in Anaheim in 2002.

Before joining eBay, Kevin Pursglove was communications director for San Jose former mayor Susan Hammer. He also created and hosted a highly acclaimed radio show called Forum on KQED 88.5FM that took in-depth looks at issues of importance to the Bay Area.

According to eBay's vice president of corporate communications Henry Gomez, Kevin plans to take some much-deserved time off before pursuing personal interests next year. "I have 18 years experience in the communications field and have never encountered a more skilled spokesperson than Kevin," said Gomez. "His integrity and respect for the process between reporter and spokesperson set an example for the entire eBay communications team. His hard work contributed a great deal to the building of the eBay brand."

Gomez said eBay is currently looking for another executive to fill the lead spokesperson role at eBay.