Joining the ranks of other accounting industry executives who have jumped ship for the lure of the Internet, such as George Shaheen, who left his post as chief executive of Andersen Consulting to join online grocer Webvan, Peck, who served as senior vice president of marketing, product and organizational development at the AICPA, will join theglobe.com, an online community network and service provider, as chief executive Aug. 1. The company's founders, Todd Krizelman and Stephan Paternot will continue as major shareholders and co-vice chairmen of the board, the firm said.

Ironically, Peck is leaving the AICPA just as the organization is planning to take the Internet plunge itself with its planned cpa2biz.com portal. Peck’s tenure at the institute was marked by bringing continuing professional education to profitability, spearheading several significant strategic acquisitions and product-line sales, and initiating wide-reaching process improvement programs, theglobe.com said.

"theglobe.com has the brand equity to extend its community network capabilities worldwide and possesses a potential that has yet to be realized," said Peck. "I'm extremely excited to spearhead the efforts that Todd and Steph began six years ago and together with the extraordinary efforts of the TGLO team, contribute my experience at increasing value to the shareholders of theglobe.com."