Industry Moves: Viebranz Out As President Of Platform-A; Clarizio Named Successor
By David Kaplan - Mon 10 Mar 2008 12:51 PM PST
AOL (NYSE: TWX) has lost another top exec at its advertising unit Platform-A, as Curt Viebranz has stepped down from the top job as president of the unit. In his place, AOL is promoting Lynda Clarizio to president of Platform-A. Clarizio has served as president of Advertising.com, one of the several parts that make up Platform-A. She will report to Ron Grant, AOL’s president and COO. Viebranz, the former CEO of recent AOL acquisition Tacoda, became Platform-A’s first president when the organization was announced last fall. No word yet as to why he left or where he’s headed.
Before joining Advertising.com in May 2006, Clarizio, was an EVP at AOL in charge of strategy, finance and business development of AOL’s Audience business. She has held several other positions throughout her nine years at AOL, including SVP for corporate strategic and financial planning and SVP for acquisitions and strategic investments. In the latter role, she led AOL’s acquisition of Advertising.com. Clarizio came to AOL from the Washington D.C. law firm of Arnold & Porter, where she was a partner for seven years.
Clarizio takes the reins amid a larger shakeup occurring at Platform-A. In addition to the seemingly sudden exit of Viebranz, last month saw the departure of Dave Morgan as AOL’s EVP-Global Advertising Strategy, the Tacoda founder who also joined AOL after the acquisition last fall, and 24-year Time Warner vet Kathy Kayse, who defected from her post as EVP of marketing solutions and led ad sales and partnerships at Platform-A to go to Discovery Communications (NSDQ: DISCA) as EVP for digital sales. Release
-- Update: Sources tell me that Viebranz was ousted by AOL execs, who felt that he had been moving too slowly on the integration of the various properties within Platform-A.
Posted in: Advertising, Companies, Time Warner, AOL, Industry Moves
Tags: lynda clarizio, curt viebranz,
