Industry Moves
Industry Moves: HuffPo Names Ad Vet Coleman President And Chief Revenue Officer
Greg Coleman, the former Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) sales exec who was ousted from the top spot at AOL’s Platform-A by CEO Tim Armstrong, has a new gig lined up: president of Huffington Post, AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher reports. The company confirmed his hire, adding that he will also take on the role of chief revenue officer, replacing James Smith, who will leave the company. In a statement, HuffPo CEO Eric Hippeau said that he got to know Coleman when he was a Yahoo board member.
Later on, he e-mailed our Staci D. Kramer in response to questions about why hire someone with a background in portals: “Greg Coleman has a stellar track record and reputation in advertising sales management. He knows how to scale a team and a property. This is exactly what The Huffington Post needs right now.” He added that no other staffing changes are being planned—for the moment, at least. Arianna Huffington, the site’s co-founder and editor-in-chief, said she only met Coleman briefly at a Yahoo retreat a few years ago, but came away impressed with his understanding of the problems of online advertising.
Coleman’s tenure at AOL lasted less than 100 days, as he had the bad luck to be hired just before the old guard, consisting of CEO Randy Falco and President/COO Ron Grant, that hired him was replaced by Armstrong at AOL (NYSE: TWX). Before that, Coleman had been Yahoo’s global sales head, before leaving the company in Feb. 2008. Coleman’s hire could portend a wider shakeup, as earlier this summer, Hippeau replaced Betsy Morgan as CEO. Morgan had been in the job for a little over a year nearly two years.
Posted In: Advertising, Industry Moves
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