NEW YORK, Aug. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CBS Corporation
(NYSE: CBS and CBS.A) announced today it has repositioned its
advertising sales organization for the multiplatform future.
Jo Ann Ross, who has led CBS
Television Network sales efforts since 2002, has been promoted to
President and Chief Advertising Revenue Officer, CBS Corporation,
and David Lawenda, who served as
Head of U.S., Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook until
March 2017, was named Executive Vice
President, Digital Sales and Sales Strategy, reporting to Ross.
"We have a tremendous opportunity to grow CBS' advertising
revenue by working with clients to realize value from every
impression across all platforms," said Leslie Moonves, Chairman and CEO, CBS
Corporation. "This new structure, headed by the incomparable
Jo Ann Ross, is the most
advantageous way to achieve that goal. I am also pleased to have
David Lawenda join the best ad sales
team in the business to help accelerate our multiplatform sales
effort with his remarkable linear and digital experience. This
is the right team and the right structure to position CBS for
maximum growth as viewer habits continue to change."
Ross also announced that Dave
Morris, previously Chief Revenue Officer, CBS Interactive
since 2008, has been named to an expanded role with the Company as
Executive Vice President, Advanced Advertising and Client
Partnerships. In this new role, he will lead CBS' efforts in the
evolving video space as it relates to ad innovation and audience
planning, working closely with Lawenda. Morris will report to
Ross.
In addition to her new responsibilities, Ross will continue to
run the Network sales team in its many operations led by
John Bogusz, Executive Vice
President, Sports Sales and Marketing; Dean
Kaplan, Executive Vice President, Sales Strategy, Planning
and Administration; Linda Rene,
Executive Vice President, Primetime Sales and Innovation; and
Chris Simon, Executive Vice
President, Network Sales.
As part of the new structure, Lawenda will be responsible for
oversight of CBS' digital advertising sales business and
multiplatform sales strategy. In his new role, Lawenda will oversee
the existing sales and marketing efforts of CBS Interactive headed
by Ken Lagana, Senior Vice
President, Global Advertising Sales and Marketing, CBS Digital
Media; Katie Kulik, Senior Vice
President, Global Advertising Sales and Marketing, CNET Media
Group; Jason White, Senior Vice
President and General Manager, Revenue Operations; and Dennis Colon, Vice President, Sales Operations
and Strategy.
Lawenda possesses a unique combination of digital and linear
expertise, with extensive interactive, mobile, broadcast,
cable, syndication, agency and multicultural experience that spans
almost three decades. He most recently served as Head
of U.S., Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook (July
2013-March 2017) where he and his team more
than quadrupled Facebook's U.S. revenue. He and his team also
launched and led the U.S. Instagram monetization strategy and
execution. In addition, he oversaw and scaled a new multicultural
targeting capability generating significant revenue. Prior to
joining Facebook, Lawenda was President of Advertising Sales and
Marketing at Univision, where he was responsible for overseeing
sales and marketing for all of the broadcaster's media assets,
producing $2.25B in annual
revenue.
"I am proud to say that with today's news the best and most
respected sales team in the business has become even stronger,"
said Jo Ann Ross, President and
Chief Advertising Revenue Officer, CBS Corporation. "Combining
these two world class teams will lead to a faster and more
effective way for us to do business with our clients. I am
particularly pleased with what David brings to CBS, including his
intimate knowledge of how the digital marketplace works, his
relationships and his experience working on all sides of the
business. I also look forward to continuing to work closely with
Dave in his new role. We expect a seamless transition, and together
we expect an even greater momentum using the advances in data and
measurement to help our clients target audiences across all CBS
channels, linear and digital."
"Multiplatform viewing is now the standard, so it's crucial that
we have a revenue structure that takes full advantage of the many
opportunities that owning both the #1 television Network and one of
the largest U.S. internet companies affords CBS," said Jim Lanzone, Chief Digital Officer, CBS
Corporation and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Interactive. "Our
leading digital brands and OTT services are key parts of CBS'
overall content portfolio, and today's announcement ensures that we
will take an even more collaborative approach to growing them with
our advertisers."
Jo Ann Ross is a broadcast
network sales veteran who has served in various sales roles at CBS
over the last 25 years. Ross, the first woman to serve as sales
chief of a broadcast network and the longest running sales head in
broadcast television, has served as President, Network Sales, CBS
Television Network, since October
2002, responsible for overseeing all sales for CBS
Entertainment, Sports, Daytime, News and Late Night. She was
previously Executive Vice President of Sales at CBS (September
1998-2002), responsible for oversight of all sales for CBS'
primetime schedule. Ross also played a major role in creating new
ways to sell Network programming, including reality, scripted, news
and late-night genres. She joined CBS in 1992 as Vice President of
Olympic Sales, in charge of Network sales for the Lillehammer
Winter Olympics in 1994 and the Nagano Winter Olympics in 1998.
Prior to joining CBS, Ross was with the ABC Network for three
years. Before that, Ross worked at the media buying firm Bozell.
She was inducted into Broadcasting & Cable's Hall of Fame in
2013. Ross has been one of Hollywood Reporter's "100 Most Powerful
Women in Entertainment" and has been selected to the "AdWeek 50"
list of the most indispensable executives behind the CEO from
marketing, media and tech for many years running. Additionally she
was named the Women in Sports and Entertainment Woman of the Year
in 2005, and in September 2002 was
named one of Advertising Age's "Media Mavens," an annual
compilation of the industry's top media stars.
As head of U.S. sales at Facebook, Lawenda was responsible for
overseeing marketing relationships with the leading brands and
agencies in the country, and specifically managing the growth of 14
key verticals: CPG, Beauty, Pharma/Health Care, Retail, Automotive,
Financial Services, Restaurants, Technology, Telecomm,
Entertainment, Government/Political, Travel, E-commerce and
Professional Services. Before his time at Univision (2007-2012),
Lawenda held several key positions at Viacom where he oversaw sales
and marketing, and helped launch and brand both SpikeTV and UPN.
Lawenda also spent time at Turner Broadcasting and began his career
at DDB Needham. For several years, Lawenda has served on the
Marketing Executive Committee of UJA - Federation of New York and is also on the board of directors
of the Advertising Club of New
York and the Hetrick-Martin Institute. Lawenda graduated
with honors from Georgetown University
with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.
As Chief Revenue Officer, CBS Interactive, Dave Morris was responsible for driving the
revenue strategy for the division. In this role, he worked closely
with Jo Ann and her team at CBS Television to develop exciting
cross platform opportunities for CBS' customers. Morris joined CNET
Networks in 2007 as Senior Vice President of Network Sales. CNET
Networks was acquired by CBS Corporation in June 2008. A veteran of Time Inc., Morris has
more than 20 years of marketing, sales, and publishing experience.
Prior to CNET Networks, Morris was President and Publisher of
Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, where he led the publication and
website to record profits and audience numbers. Prior to
Entertainment Weekly, Morris was Publisher of Sports Illustrated.
As Publisher, he also directed the advertising sales for the
magazines bonus editorial sections (including SI Golf Plus), SI's
custom publishing arm, Sports Illustrated Presents and SI.com.
Before working at Time Inc., he was a sales representative for
Parents Magazine and a media planner at SSC&B. In addition,
Morris is a board member and former Chairman at the Interactive
Advertising Bureau.
About CBS Corporation:
CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A
and CBS) is a mass media company that creates and distributes
industry-leading content across a variety of platforms to audiences
around the world. The Company has businesses with origins that date
back to the dawn of the broadcasting age as well as new ventures
that operate on the leading edge of media. CBS owns the
most-watched television network in the U.S. and one of the world's
largest libraries of entertainment content, making its brand — "the
Eye" — one of the most recognized in business. The Company's
operations span virtually every field of media and entertainment,
including cable, publishing, radio, local TV, film, and interactive
and socially responsible media. CBS' businesses include CBS
Television Network, The CW (a joint venture between CBS Corporation
and Warner Bros. Entertainment), CBS Television Studios, CBS
Studios International, CBS Television Distribution, CBS Consumer
Products, CBS Home Entertainment, CBS Interactive, CBS Films,
Showtime Networks, CBS Sports Network, Pop (a joint venture between
CBS Corporation and Lionsgate), Smithsonian Networks, Simon &
Schuster, CBS Television Stations, CBS Radio and CBS EcoMedia. For
more information, go to www.cbscorporation.com.
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SOURCE CBS Corporation