Continuing the shakeup of its leadership team, Condé Nast announced Monday the departure of chief technology officer Joe Simon.
In the announcement of Simon’s departure (full announcement below), the company said Condé Nast Entertainment executive vice president Fred Santarpia will become executive vice president and chief digital officer of Condé Nast. In his new role, Santarpia will be “responsible for building and executing the company’s enterprise-wide strategy across digital, mobile and emerging platforms.”
Simon is the latest executive to leave the media company, which has seen a remaking of its executive team in recent months. In July, chief financial officer John Bellando was replaced by former Time Inc. executive David Geithner; Thomas Wallace, the company’s editorial director, also left. August saw the departure of Lou Cona, Condé’s chief revenue officer; he was replaced by Vanity Fair publisher Edward Menicheschi.
In his new role, Menicheschi will be in charge of Condé Nast’s digital sales organization, according to the announcement.
Here’s the full announcement:
Robert A. Sauerberg, Condé Nast president, today appointed Fred Santarpia, executive vice president and chief digital officer of Condé Nast. In this newly created role, Mr. Santarpia will be responsible for building and executing the company’s enterprise-wide strategy across digital, mobile and emerging platforms to expand the reach of its brands, strengthen its marketing offerings, and deepen its relationship with consumers across all of the connected devices audiences are accessing to engage with the corporation’s premium content.
Mr. Santarpia assumes this role after having served for the past two years as EVP and CDO of Condé Nast Entertainment, where he and his team launched 14 fully distributed video channels and operates The Scene, a platform dedicated to creating and curating premium digital video content. Set to hit 1.5 billion video views across its network since launching last year, CNÉ was named comScore’s fastest-growing video company in 2013.
“The success of the company’s digital video strategy is a testament to Fred’s leadership and the hard work of the digital team at CNÉ,” said Mr. Sauerberg. “With this appointment, we look to Fred to extend his strong digital vision to the rest of the company.”
“Demand for premium digital content has never been greater,” added Mr. Santarpia. “I look forward to expanding the scope and depth of Condé Nast’s digital experiences to take advantage of the current opportunity and the trends in the marketplace.”
Prior to joining CNÉ, Mr. Santarpia was general manager of Vevo, a leading digital music video and entertainment company. He was part of Vevo’s founding leadership team and served as head of all operations responsible for audience development and video syndication, social media and marketing strategy, revenue operations, and Vevo’s original content and programming teams. Mr. Santarpia has also held senior level positions at Universal Music Group and Arthur Andersen.
A new general manager of digital video will be named shortly by Dawn Ostroff, president of CNÉ.
The company today, also announced the restructuring of its digital sales organization under Edward Menicheschi, chief marketing officer and president of the Condé Nast Media Group. Effective immediately, Lisa Valentino will expand her current role as chief revenue officer at CNÉ to lead digital sales for the company enterprise-wide. Reporting dually to Mr. Menicheschi and Ms. Ostroff, in this new role, Ms. Valentino will partner with Josh Stinchcomb, who was named senior vice president of sales strategy. In this new capacity, he will oversee brand-related efforts, advertising and revenue operations and partnerships.
“The growth we have seen in digital has been nothing short of extraordinary, capturing the imaginations of the ad industry,” said Mr. Menicheschi. “With Lisa and Josh leading our digital operations, Condé Nast will lead the charge in the premium digital space.”
With the changes in the company’s digital structure, Joe Simon, chief technology officer, will leave the company.
