America Online, the world's leading interactive services company, today announced that Lisa Brown has been appointed Executive Vice President, Interactive Marketing, overseeing advertising sales for the company. She will report to Ted Leonsis, AOL Vice Chairman and President, AOL Core Service.
Ms. Brown, who joined AOL in November 2002 as Executive Vice President of the newly created Marketing Strategy and Solutions group, succeeds Robert Sherman, who left the company last week.
Since joining AOL, Ms. Brown has been responsible for crafting advertising strategy and enhancing advertising revenue and operational capabilities for the AOL service and America Online's Web properties. Behind her leadership, Interactive Marketing has worked closely with programming to align the needs of AOL's members and marketing partners. These teams worked collaboratively to create a suite of offers for advertisers, including larger, standard advertising inventory; calendarized sponsorships and promotions; new opportunities in high-value areas such as the Welcome Screen; and more robust rich media and targeting capabilities.
In making the announcement, AOL Chairman and CEO Jon Miller said, "Lisa Brown is the right person, with the right skills, to lead our advertising sales efforts. In just the few months Lisa has been at AOL, she has demonstrated her innovative thinking, industry expertise, partner focus and, most important, her ability to get results. I've worked with Lisa for a number of years, and I know that she will be a great asset to AOL in her new role and will build on the progress we've made in turning around our advertising sales."
Miller continued, "Bob Sherman did a very good job leading our sales group through a challenging time and putting in place the foundation off which we are able to build a scalable and sustainable ad business. We're now in the advertising game, and I'm confident we'll continue to grow advertising going forward."
Mr. Leonsis said, "Lisa understands what this medium can deliver for advertisers, and she is very skilled at formulating and delivering strategic solutions for clients.ÿ I look forward to working with Lisa and her team to deliver great results for our partners. By more closely marrying the programming and Interactive Marketing functions, we're organized to deliver contextual advertising that partners want, with heightened relevance for members."
Ms. Brown said, "I'm very excited about this opportunity. Advertising -- across any media -- should build awareness and drive transactions, and online advertising very cost-effectively accomplishes both objectives. The Interactive Marketing group at AOL is singularly focused on addressing advertisers' needs and providing partners with an efficient and effective way to reach consumers. We've made solid progress already, and I look forward to working closely with our partners and the Interactive Marketing team to continue to evolve and enhance the online advertising experience."
Prior to AOL, Ms. Brown was President and CEO of USA Electronic Commerce Solutions (ECS), overseeing all aspects of the USA Interactive division that delivers end-to-end e-commerce solutions for partners such as the NBA and NASCAR. Working with other USAI businesses, ECS provided a range of services including online store design and development, merchandising, marketing and customer care, and product warehousing and fulfillment. Ms. Brown also served as the CEO of Styleclick, another USAI company, from March 2001 to August 2002.
Before being appointed President and CEO of Electronic Commerce Solutions in August 2000, Ms. Brown was Executive Vice President of Sales. Ms. Brown began her career with USA Networks, Inc. (now USA Interactive) in 1999 and was instrumental in helping to establish USAI's focus on the convergence of entertainment, information and direct selling.
Prior to joining USA Interactive, Lisa Brown was principal of Maverick Communications,
