The Washington Post has appointed three new senior executives within a two-day span.
New chief advertising officer Johanna Mayer-Jones’ new role was announced on Monday, while chief revenue officer Alex MacCallum and chief technology officer Vineet Khosla were announced on Tuesday.
Apparently by coincidence the C-suite refresh comes a month after The Washington Post’s publisher of nine years, Fred Ryan, stepped down from his role.
The newly-created chief advertising officer role will see London-born Mayer-Jones oversee “advertising and client-based solutions”, the Post said. She has been with the organisation as head of North American client partnerships since July last year, before which she was senior vice president of partnerships at The Atlantic.
Interim Post chief executive Patty Stonesifer said that Mayer-Jones is “a bold and visionary leader who has won the respect of clients and colleagues and will continue to identify and bolster business opportunities”.
Mayer-Jones begins immediately, and will report to the newly-announced chief revenue officer Alex MacCallum, with responsibility for driving revenue “across advertising, partnerships and subscriptions”.
The Post said MacCallum has “more than 20 years’ experience launching and growing new platforms and building sustainable business models within CNN Worldwide, The New York Times and The Huffington Post“.
Stonesifer said of MacCallum: “She is a strategic visionary with deep experience in identifying, building and modernising products and streams of business for media organisations, as well as growing subscriptions.” She starts work on 31 July.
MacCallum’s appointment comes after her predecessor Joy Robins departed the Post in March to become global chief advertising officer at the rival New York Times.
Khosla meanwhile steps into the role vacated in September by Shailesh Prakash, the chief technology officer whom Axios reported was “the backbone of The Post’s technological transformation”.
Khosla, who also starts work on 31 July, joins the newspaper from Uber, where he was a senior engineering leader. The Post said Khosla “will serve as a senior advisor to the CEO and will lead The Post’s engineering team and innovation strategy, helping to drive the company’s overall vision for its technology goals”.
Stonesifer said: “His extensive background in technology, including artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud computing, makes him an excellent fit to lead The Post through our next phase of innovation.”
The Post said Khosla was Apple’s first hire for engineering the natural language engine that powers its personal assistant, Siri, and that he managed the maps routing team at Uber. Stonesifer added: “His career centres on building technology products backed by research and precise design; a specific skill set that will further establish The Post as a destination for readers daily.”
Khosla said: “My goal is to build a transformative user ecosystem that enhances the reader experience and provides opportunities for growth, and I’m excited to be doing so at The Post.”
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