Dot-com shakeout affects Langston

Marv Langston's one-year tenure as the No. 2 executive at a California dot-com may come to an end soon.

Langston, the former chief information officer for the Defense Department, left the Pentagon in Jan. 2000 to serve as chief operating officer at Salus Media, Carpinteria, Calif.

Langston also had been the Navy Department's first chief information officer and was a submarine officer in the Navy. He also worked as a civilian in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Salus Media's leadership, which includes executives with experience in the entertainment industry, health care and technology, sells an interactive Web-based application to corporations and health care providers to help people lead more healthy lifestyles, according to the company's Web site, {http://www.salusmedia.com} www.salusmedia.com.

But with Wall Street investors turning away from Internet-based startups since last March, venture capital and other funding have dried up.

"We are going through a downturn in this company," Langston said. While he awaits the possibility that the company could be revived in a few months, Langston is doing some consulting and "trying to work towards a transition," in his work. "That's the straightest story I've got," he said.