Openings and New Hires at Whitepages, Advance Digital, LocalBlox & Topix
Every two weeks, Search Influence’s Kelly Benish — who knows practically everyone in hyperlocal — covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. (Plus, scroll down for jobs on offer now.)
2013 was a year for reinvention. One of the most prevalent trends I saw was traditional sales folks improving upon their digital acumen and moving over to pureplay digital sales roles. Another theme on the rise in 2013 was career musical chairs, there were a handful of people that made 2-4 changes this year. We all know how incestuous our industry is, but it seemed like a lot of people were being poached and floating around the same select few companies this year.
Publishers were making a mad dash in 2013 to hire cross-trained and digitally savvy sales talent and that will only grow in 2014. According to renowned industry recruiter Robert Hawthorne, many publishers are consolidating operations, trimming the middle and senior manager headcount, and putting more reps under remaining managers. We are seeing this “squeeze” from coast to coast as publishers try and maintain profitability without raising prices or trimming compensation for their sales force. We have seen about a 25% uptick in the number of manager resumes received this year versus 2010.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Charles Dyer – Localblox
I met Charles Dyer about two years ago when he was the director of business development at Microsoft. After that, Charles had been acting as a strategic advisor for several startups until he was recently brought on to LocalBlox as the company’s interim CEO. LocalBlox has developed a big data engine that takes unstructured data from disparate sources to create an index around “place,” for either a business or neighborhood.
John Denny – BAI Brands
The famous John Denny recently became the chief brand strategist at Bai Brands, a national antioxidant beverage line. Before Bai Brands he was VP of marketing for the local digital division of one of the largest media companies in the world, Advance/Conde Nast. At Advance Digital he led marketing and brand strategy, and built the group focused on search and social media optimization for the company’s media properties. He also helped to pioneer the company’s building of agency services to local and regional businesses.
Matt Bonofiglio – Advance Digital
Matt Bonofiglio was promoted from one of ADI’s local affiliates mLive (Michigan Live) as their channel sales manager to the senior sales manager at Advance Digital. There he’ll manage many aspects of SEO & social media, including fulfillment processes, strategy, sales and support, for Advance Digital’s 12 local affiliates (which include 12 market leading dot com’s as well as over 30 of the top newspapers in the U.S.). He’s also responsible for working closely with the Advance Visibility team in each market on larger SEO and Social Media programs with local, regional and national businesses. I’m very happy for you Matt and this promotion was very well deserved!
Barbara Devaney – Topix
Barbara Devaney has been named director of sales at Topix. She was most recently the national sales manager for The Business Journals (division of Conde Nast) where she was responsible for driving revenue across all platforms including digital, video, mobile, print and experiential. She is a strong sales developer who cultivates relationships with senior client and agency personnel.
Drew Hackleman – Whitepages
Drew Hackleman started at Whitepages three years ago as the lead account manager at Dealpop, their proprietary deals platform. In just a year he was promoted to business development manager where I had the opportunity to work with him on a couple of data projects. Recently, he was promoted to director of data strategy and acquisition where he will be focused on data monetization, optimization and usability. Congrats Drew and I hope you are wearing some good boots with all of the corporate ladder climbing you’ve been doing!
Mike Brugman – My Sunshine Media
Mike Brugman was recently brought aboard My Sunshine Media as the company’s VP of sales and marketing to advance their digital marketing efforts and reorganize their sales team. In the past, Brugman was VP of client success at Supermedia that led to incremental sales growth.
George Leith – VendAsta
George Leith was recently promoted from director of sales to VP of sales at VendAsta after a year of wheeling and dealing while closing a boatload of new partnerships for the reputation management platform. George also streamlined their sales training efforts. With a history in radio, publishing and entertainment group ownership he is truly proving to be a valuable asset.
Plus where to look for jobs now….
Street Fight is looking for a sales director, a marketing manager, and a managing editor. Apply here
Linkedin is looking for a senior manager of business operations. Apply here
AT&T is looking for a sales manager. Apply here
Comporium is hiring and actively recruiting for a channel business manager. Apply here
Daily Press is looking to hire a new business development manager for digital services. Apply here
Ballantine Communications is in the market for a director of marketing, it’s a great place to work with a renewed commitment to company culture and a brand new digital agency. Plus you get to work with Kricket Lewis, e-mail her for details. Apply here.
VendAsta seeks account executives. Apply here.
Can you do product development work? Contact Oracle about their senior QA analyst role. Apply here
AOL is looking for a product manager. Apply here
Yahoo! is looking for a senior business development manager.. Apply here
Google seeks a channel partner manager – media partnerships. Apply here
Apple wants to find an operations manager (in Shanghai). Apply here
Twitter is on the prowl for a marketing operations manager. Apply here.
Plus new talent looking now….
Highly talented seasoned veteran in corporate strategy and marketing is looking in the NJ/NY area, he will be your point person and main advisor, recommended for well-funded startups or any biz lacking motivation.
Long-time media industry adopter and digitally-savvy mobile marketer and entrepreneur interested in a new opportunity. Chicago based.
Global head of digital product for a major telco in the UK seeks a new role. Over 15 years of experience.
VP of product in California is interested in a new role, over 20 years of varying expertise. Highly recommended.
Ex-Googler based in NYC seeks new business development role.
Social media maven and marketing newbie starting out in Saint Louis MO seeks an entry level role.
President of online consulting firm, works with IYP’s & newspapers and eventually moving over to loyalty-based and digital solutions. Willing to relocate from New England.
Director of development in the Boston metro area, with 6 years of business development, customer acquisition, partnership building & product development. Available now.
Current VP with 29 years experience in sales management, corporate actions, HR and business development. Located in the Charlotte metro area & ready to move now.
***If you are interested in any of these candidates or you would like to be featured in a future column, please e-mail me at [email protected] for more information.***
Kelly Benish is VP of sales and marketing at Search Influence, a national online marketing firm focused on SMBs and white label online marketing for publishers and media partners who serve them. You can follow her on Twitter @Lokellsearch.
