Executive Moves Archives - The Good Search

Arkadium hires David Elton as new General Manager

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in Executive Moves, Internet & Media Industry Leave a comment

david elton

David Elton has been hired by Arkadium as General Manager. He will be reporting to Arkadium’s Founder and CEO, Kenny Rosenblatt. Mr. Elton brings to Arkadium 18 years of games industry experience with console, mobile, handheld and free to play online titles. He has also served as an Advisory Board Member at the Canadian Video Games Awards. He has worked on titles including Family Guy Online, X-Men:Destiny, Need for Speed World Online, FIFA Street, Dragon’s Lair 2, Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace.

Mr. Rosenblatt says of Mr. Elton, “David has amazing experience that spans across this entire industry, and he brings a wealth of knowledge of game development process from various platform and organizations.”

Mr. Elton began his career as a project manager at Acclaim. Subsequently he has held creative director roles at Electronic Arts, a Business Development Manager at Microsoft Game Studios and a Director of Design at Silicon Knights. He attained a BA degree from the University of Guelph.

Brian Kaminsky Joins Clear Channel Media and Entertainment as Executive Vice President of Operations

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in Executive Moves, Internet & Media Industry Leave a comment

Clear Channel announced that Brian Kaminsky has been named Executive Vice President of Operations for the company’s digital division. In his new role, he will oversee digital advertising operations, customer support, product analytics and partner operations for iHeartRadio and the Clear Channel network of stations.

Prior to joining Clear Channel, Mr. Kaminsky served as Chief Operating Officer for The Huffington Post at AOL. Other roles at The Huffington Post include Senior Vice President and General Manager; General Manager of News and Vice President of Advertising Sales Operations. He also previously served as Vice President Global Revenue Operations, Reuters Media for Thomson Reuters, Vice President of Advertising Sales Operations at Reuters, Director of Operations and Business Manager at Yahoo! and a Media Planner for Buena Vista Television.

Mr. Kaminsky holds an MBA from the City University of New York -Baruch College and a BA in English from Syracuse University.

Eric Raab joins Yodle as Chief Information Officer

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in CTO & CIO Leadership, Executive Moves, Internet & Media Industry Leave a comment

Yodle announced that Eric Raab has joined the company’s executive team at Chief Information Officer. In his new role, he will be supporting product development, scaling Yodle’s business and building out the company’s technology team.

Mr. Raab says of his new role, “I look forward to working with my new colleagues to provide even more value to our customers and create further efficiencies across the business. I’m also excited to be part of a company that is expanding so quickly and to lead the growth of our talented technology team.”

Prior to joining Yodle, Mr. Raab served as Chief Technology Officer at M5 Networks, where he built out the infrastructure for a VoIP and data product. Other prior roles include Chief Technology Officer at Toktumi, Chief Executive Officer at AIG Telecom and Chief Technology Officer at IDT Corporation and Epana Networks. Mr. Raab holds a BA in Physics and Mathematics from Columbia University and a PhD in Atomic and Molecular Physics from MIT.

If Barbie Were a CEO, She’d Have to Crawl

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Krista Bradford Posted in CEO Leadership, Curating Leadership, Women Executives Leave a comment

Ever wonder why we remain so conflicted about women achieving parity in the executive suite? Take a close look at Barbie and think about how warped the physical dimensions are. She is so thin, she’d be classified as anorexic. In fact, her dimensions literally would cripple her.

If Barbie were real, she’d have half a liver because her waist is so small. With so long and narrow a neck, she’d be unable to lift her head. Moreover, she couldn’t stand — it would be physically impossible with her teensy-weensy child’s size three feet in the permanent high-heel position. She’d have to crawl.

Every two seconds, a Barbie is sold. Every year, 15 million dolls make their way into the hands of little girls. Too few of them grow up to be CEOs. While a the iconography of a single doll seems trivial, it is not when it has served as a role model for our daughters for more than fifty years. Rehabs.com, which published the infographic below, points out that four out of five 10-year-olds say that they’re afraid of being fat. 42% of girls in first through third grade wish they were thinner. And, half of girls aged 9 or 10 claim that they feel better about themselves when they’re dieting.

On January 1st of this year, we achieved a new milestone when the number of female CEOs in the Fortune 500 rose to 21. The number represents a paltry 4.2% when parity would be 50%. Though there are many contributing factors,Barbie is so imbedded deep in our psyches that I suspect the number of female CEOs will not change until Barbie does.

Vin Farrell Announced as Global Chief Content Officer at Havas Worldwide

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in Advertising Industry, Executive Moves Leave a comment

Havas Worldwide announced the appointment of Vin Farrell as Chief Content Officer. In this newly created role, he will be responsible for the global oversight of content, curation, development, production and distribution and will be starting on April 8. He will report to the company’s President, Andrew Benett.

Mr. Benett said of Mr. Farrell, “with the addition of the chief content officer role, we’re enhancing our creative and digital offering, and further establishing our credentials as an industry leader in digital and with expertise in content.”

Mr. Farrell comes to Havas Worldwide from the digital agency R/GA where he served as Senior Vice President of Creative Operations. He also held earlier roles as Senior Director of Content at SpikeTV.com and worked in production at Digitas.

Michael Pietsch named Chief Executive Officer at Hatchette Book Group

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in CEO Leadership, Executive Moves Leave a comment

Michael Pietsch assumed CEO responsibilities at Hatchette Book Group effective today, April 1, 2013. He succeeds David Young who decided to return to the UK to be closer to family. Mr. Young will remain Chairman of Hatchette Book Group. Mr. Pietsch will report to Mr. Young and will continue to edit a few books a year.

Michael Pietsch

Previously, Mr. Pietsch served as Executive Vice President, Hatchette Book Group and Publisher at Little, Brown where he was responsible for bringing out best sellers by authors including, James Bradley, Tina Fey, Erin Hilderbrand, J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer. He also oversaw the launch of Mulholland Books in 2012. Prior to becoming Publisher, Mr. Pietsch was appointed Editor in Chief, where he acquired and edited thrillers written by James Patterson, Michael Connelly and others.

Mr. Pietsch serves on many boards, including Poets and Writers, Bookish, AAP and World Book Night. He resides in Ossining, NY with his wife and children.

Pitney Bowes names Joe Schmitt Vice President and Chief Information Officer

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in CTO & CIO Leadership, Executive Moves Leave a comment

Joe Schmitt was named Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Stamford, CT based Pitney Bowes. He will be leading information technology strategy and infrastructure including data centers, technical centers, communication networks and enterprise software applications. Mr. Schmitt will report into Kevin Connolly, Vice President, Global Client Services.

Prior to joining Pitney Bowes, Mr. Schmitt served as Chief Information Officer at Steward Health Care; Chief Information Officer and Operations Executive at Cerberus Capital Management; Head of Lending Operations, Technology and Six Sigma at General Electric Capital and Chief Information Officer at General Electric.

He holds a BS in Economics and Industrial Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Mario Diez named Chief Executive Officer at PointRoll

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in Advertising Industry, CEO Leadership, Executive Moves Leave a comment

PointRoll, a Gannett company, announced the appointment of Mario Diez as Chief Executive Officer. He returns to the company after nearly ten years ago when he launched the company’s New York office in 2003. Mr. Diez says of his new role, “I joined PointRoll as its 13th employee more than a decade ago, and today, I am returning as its 266th. We intend to drive innovation and value just as we did as a startup, all while providing the same quality service that has been our hallmark throughout.”

After leaving PointRoll in 2006, Mr. Diez went on to serve as Regional Director, New York and Vice President, Eastern Region at Centro; Vice President, Aperture Sales at Datran Media; Senior Vice President of Sales at quadrantONE and Chief Executive Officer at quadrantONE. He has a BA in Business Management from Gettysburg College.

Leadership Parity for Women Executives? Not Until 2085

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Krista Bradford Posted in Curating Leadership, Diverse Executives, Executive Moves, Women Executives Leave a comment

According The Status of Women in the U.S. Media 2013 published by The Women’s Media Center, women executives will not reach leadership parity with men in government/politics, business, entrepreneurship and nonproﬁts until 2085 . To put the year 2085 into context: I will be dead by then. Unless my now college-aged daughter lives to the ripe old age of 105, she will be dead by then as well.

Boy Girl Sign

The Women’s Media Center report by Diana Mitsu Klos does a masterful job of reviewing and summarizing the findings of “an avalanche of new surveys, studies and reports.” The evidence documents “stubborn gender inequality in the ways that women are employed and represented in news, entertainment and technology- related media.” It turns out that the 2085 projection comes from a study by the Women’s College of the University of Denver and the White House Project, a nonprofit, non-partisan women’s leadership group. Even when women outperform their male counterparts, they are still not recognized for senior leadership positions.

Another report 2012 study by the nonprofit Catalyst details women executive percentages that come nowhere near approaching the 51% percent of the population that are women.

14.3 % of executive officer positions at Fortune 500 companies and 8.1 percent of executive officer top earner positions.
16.6 % of board seats in 2012 were held by women — the seventh consecutive year of no growth.
0% of the executive officer roles are held by women at more than one-quarter of the Fortune 50o. In other words, they have no women leaders.

Now that I have your attention, please take a moment download the report. Then I suggest you sit down to read it. The report’s findings may knock the wind out of you. Then, let’s do something about it. First, answer one simple question about how to achieve parity for women executives before 2085. (Feel free to suggest other questions for subsequent polls.)

Please comment if you think women executives should achieve parity before Y208 and share your thoughts on how to get there. If you also happen to be an executive in the position to do something about it, let’s talk. We do a lot of work in diversity. There are ways to make a difference.

Tony Bombacino named Chief Marketing Officer at BrightTag

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in CMO Leadership, Executive Moves Leave a comment

BrightTag announced that it has named Tony Bombacino Chief Marketing Officer. In this newly created position he will be responsible for setting strategy, as well as corporate and product marketing worldwide.

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Prior to joining BrightTag, Mr. Bombacino served as President and Chief Marketing Officer/Chief Operating Officer at Geomentum, where he was responsible for the overall go-to-market and operational strategies for a 400 person marketing agency. He previously served as Chief Marketing Officer at Restaurant.com; Vice President and Client Services at Resolution Media and Customer Marketing Manager at United Airlines.

Mr. Bombacino holds a MS in Direct Marketing from Mercy College as well as BS in Marketing from Saint Xavier University.

Ralph Santana Named Chief Marketing Officer at HARMAN

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in CMO Leadership, Executive Moves Leave a comment

HARMAN Industries announced the appointment of Ralph Santana as Chief Marketing Officer effective as of April 2013. In his new role, he will be responsible for leading the marketing organization, driving marketing strategy and the creation of new marketing programs. He will report to HARMAN’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dinesh Paliwal.

Mr. Paliwal said of the recent hire, “He has been recognized by his peers as a leader amongst marketers and we expect him to carry his insights and approach to our marketing organization and strengthen our brand programs going forward. We look forward to having him on our Executive Team at HARMAN.”

Mr. Santana was previously the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Samsung North America. At Samsung, he was responsible for the company’s brand communications, digital marketing strategies and product innovation. Prior to Samsung, Mr. Santana held multiple marketing leadership roles at PepsiCo. Mr. Santana has an MBA from Duke University and a BA in English Literature from Dartmouth College.

Kevin Lynch announced Vice President of Technology at Apple

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in Executive Moves, Software & IT Industry Leave a comment

Apple announced that Kevin Lynch will be joining the company. Mr. Lynch has resigned from his current post of CTO at Adobe Systems effective March 22, 2013. He will be reporting to Apple’s Senior Vice President of Technology, Bob Mansfield and will likely be working with the companies wireless and semiconductor teams.

Prior to his role as CTO at Adobe Systems, Mr. Lynch served as Chief Software Architect at Adobe Systems; Chief Software Architect at Macromedia; OS and Applications at General Magic and a member of the Core Technology Group at Frame Technology. Mr. Lynch studied at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Claudia Husemann joins Edelman as Executive Vice President and Corporate Head of Communications

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in Executive Moves, PR & Communications Industry, Women Executives Leave a comment

Edelman hired Claudia Husemann as Executive Vice President and Corporate Head of Communications in February 2013. She is based out of the New York office and leads a team of Senior Vice Presidents of Corporate Communications. Ms. Husemann reports to Managing Director of Corporate and Public Affairs, Ron Guirguis.

At Edelman, Ms. Husemann is responsible for growing the company’s corporate portfolio as well as attracting new business. She also oversees the corporate, technology, employee engagement, public affairs, business and social purpose and consulting business units. Prior to joining Edelman, Ms. Husemann served as Senior Vice President and Director of the New York corporate practice at Hill + Knowlton; Marketing Manager at Intel; Senior Vice President at Waggener Edstrom; Communications Manager at Macromedia; and Marketing Communications Manager at Candescent Technologies. She holds a BA in International Relations from Stanford University.

Khurrum Malik named CMO at eXelate

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in CMO Leadership, Executive Moves, Internet & Media Industry Leave a comment

Khurrum Malik was named Chief Marketing Officer at eXelate in New York City. He will be reporting to the company’s CEO, Mark Zagorski. As CMO, Mr. Malik will be responsible for corporate and product marketing for the company’s smart data solutions.

Mr. Zagorski said of the appointment, “His experience and proven ability to build and scale marketing organizations in the analytics, mobile, and software sectors will be an important asset in driving eXelate’s global growth. As we expand our platform to incorporate 2nd and 3rd screen data, we will leverage Khurrum’s multi-platform expertise to bring new value directly to marketers and agencies worldwide.”

Prior to joining eXelate, Mr. Malik served as Vice President of Marketing at ComScore. He also served in marketing leadership roles at Accenture and Microsoft. Mr. Malik holds a MBA from the University of Virginia – Darden School of Business Administration, a MS in Information Technology for the University of Virginia and a BA in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia.

Gunther Schumacher named President of OgilvyOne Worldwide.

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in Advertising Industry, Executive Moves, Internet & Media Industry Leave a comment

OgilvyOne Worldwide Chairman & CEO, Brian Fetherstonhaugh, announced that Gunther Schumacher has been named President of OgilvyOne Worldwide. He will also continue in his current role as Chief Operating Officer.

Mr. Fetherstonhaugh has said, “As COO over the past three years, Gunther has made superb contributions to the development of the OgilvyOne Worldwide network. It has also become increasingly clear through his work on clients like Kimberly-Clark and initiatives like eCommerce that Gunther’s mandate and capabilities extend far beyond ‘operations.’ His appointment to President signals his increasing impact on clients and strategy. I know Gunther will excel at this new level of leadership.”

Mr. Schumacher joined OgilvyOne in 1995 and has held a variety of both regional and worldwide positions including Group Chief Operating Officer and Worldwide Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining OgilvyOne, Mr. Schumacher held roles at American Tobacco and Stiehl/Otte Webeagentur in Germany. He holds a Master’s Degree in Philosophy and Literature from Freie Universitat Berlin.

Discovery Communications Promotes Eric Phillips to President, Domestic Distribution

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in Executive Moves, Internet & Media Industry Leave a comment

Discovery Communications promotes Eric Phillips to President, Domestic Distribution. He previously served as Executive Vice President, Domestic Distribution at Discovery Communications. In his new role, he will lead the management of the Domestic Distribution division as well as oversee content distribution sales and marketing. He will report to Bill Goodwyn, President and CEO of Discovery Education and Strategic Distribution.

Mr. Phillips was named Executive Vice President, Affiliate Distribution and Chief Operating Officer of Discovery Education in 2007 and since joining Discovery Communications in 2002, he has been responsible for negotiating agreements for all of Discovery’s US Networks. Prior to joining Discovery Communications, he practiced Corporate Law at Covington & Burling and served as a law clerk for US Federal Appeals Court Judge, Diana E. Murphy. He holds a JD in Law from The University of Michigan Law School and a BA in History from Oberlin College.

Merkle Names Andy Fisher its Chief Analytics Officer

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in Advertising Industry, CMO Leadership, Executive Moves, Internet & Media Industry Leave a comment

Andy Fisher was named Chief Analytics Officer at Merkle in Columbia, Maryland. Prior to joining Merkle, he was the Executive Vice President of Global Data and Analytics at Starcom Media Vest and Vice President and National Lead, Analytics at Razorfish.

In his new role, Mr. Fisher will be responsible for Merkle’s digital and marketing measurement optimization practices. Mr. Fisher holds a MA in Statistics from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley

Mike Randolfi named Chief Financial Officer at Orbitz Worldwide

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in Executive Moves, Internet & Media Industry Leave a comment

Mike Randolfi has joined Orbitz Worldwide as their CFO effective March 11, 2013. Based in their Chicago headquarters, he w Mike RandolfiJPG-38-0-1500-1737-305 ill be responsible for leading accounting, financial planning and analysis, investor relations, tax, procurement, internal audit and treasury. He will be reporting to Barney Harford, CEO of Orbitz Worldwide.

Mr. Randolfi previously served as Senior Vice President and Controller at Delta Airlines. He received a MBA from Emory University and a BA in Accounting from the University of South Florida. He is both a certified public accountant and certified management accountant.

Steve Rubel Promoted to Chief Content Strategist at Edelman

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Jess Heady Posted in Executive Moves, PR & Communications Industry Leave a comment

Steve Rubel has been promoted to Chief Content Strategist at Edelman, a company he joined in 2006. Previously, he served as Executive Vice President of Global Insights and Strategy. Mr. Rubel reports to Jackie Cooper, Global Chair, Creative Strategy.

In his new role, he is will be responsible for content strategy best practices both inside and outside of Edelman. He will also be responsible for leading new and innovative programs. Mr. Rubel has published 2 Clip Reports, detailing the future of media and was named to PRWeek’s 40 Under 40.

Discovery Adds GM Fit & Health to EVP Nancy Daniels’ Duties

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Krista Bradford Posted in Executive Moves, Internet & Media Industry, Women Executives

Discovery Communications has named Nancy Daniels General Manager of Discovery Fit & Health, heading all operations for the network, including development and programming — that according to an exclusive report filed by Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva.

The GM role represents an expansion of Ms. Daniel’s responsibilities. Ms. Daniels will remain Executive Vice President Production and Development, West for Discovery Channel, overseeing all aspects of development and programming for Discovery Channel that originate from the network’s West Coast offices. In addition, Ms. Daniels oversees all live events. Daniels is based in Los Angeles and reports to Eileen O’Neill, Group President Discovery and TLC Networks. Discovery Fit & Health had been without a dedicated top executive since SVP Rita Mullin last year moved to sister network OWN where she is head of programming.