Yahoo Taps New Chief for Ad PostYahoo Inc. hired former Microsoft Corp. executive Joanne Bradford to lead its U.S. advertising sales force, helping to rebuild its executive ranks after a string of high-profile departures.
The Sunnyvale, Calif., company announced the move Tuesday, along with the departure of David Karnstedt, a longtime Yahoo executive and senior vice president of U.S. sales. Mr. Karnstedt is joining venture-capital firm Redpoint Ventures.
Ms. Bradford, who will carry the title of senior vice president of U.S. revenue and market development, inherits a challenging role. Yahoo is struggling to retain its prime position in selling display advertising during tough economic times while pushing out new products. Meanwhile, a number of senior advertising and product executives have left the company in recent months, dampening morale.
In an interview, Ms. Bradford said she was excited by the competitive challenge of helping Yahoo keep up. "It's a time when they can use leadership and different perspective," she said. Her initial plans include spending time with Yahoo's full range of advertisers and working with Yahoo's media group on new premium packages, she said.
Ms. Bradford recently worked as executive vice president of national advertising services for Spot Runner Inc., a closely held Los Angeles firm that uses the Internet to help companies create ads for television. Before that she was a top executive at Microsoft's MSN Internet business -- earning a reputation as a good motivator of her employees who helped Microsoft build strong ties to large advertisers and ad agencies.
Ms. Bradford joined Microsoft in 2001 and was part of a team of executives that helped top management realize that the software company needed to invest more in online advertising. At times she clashed with other executives who fought against the advertising expansion.
For Ms. Bradford, the Yahoo position is a return to a job that she is perhaps most comfortable with: motivating teams of salespeople.
Her appointment comes two weeks before Yahoo plans to step up its attempts to woo advertisers through a series of events and announcements at a major advertising industry conference in New York. Hoping to cast off some of the shadow of negotiations over a sale to Microsoft and investors' frustrations with the board, company executives will be trying to generate interest in its existing offerings and a new advertising technology platform scheduled to roll out later this year.
Ms. Bradford will report to Hilary Schneider, executive vice president of Yahoo U.S. In an interview, Ms. Schneider cited Ms. Bradford's "raw strategic insight" and experience working with customers as evidence she is a good fit for the job. "She's a relationship person," she said.
By: Jessica Vascellary & Robert Guth
Wall Street Journal; September 10, 2008
