Yahoo Removes Layer in Sales Team Hierarchy
The firm decided to scrap the top U.S. sales position once held by Joanne Bradford.
The firm decided to scrap the top U.S. sales position once held by Joanne Bradford.
Yahoo interviewed dozens of candidates externally and internally to fill the gap left by former SVP of U.S. revenue and market development Joanne Bradford. But in the end, the firm decided to scrap the position and distribute some of its responsibilities to key sales execs.
Bradford left the firm after less than a year in March to join Demand Media, and since then Hilary Schneider, EVP Yahoo Americas, has also served as Bradford’s interim replacement. At the time, a Yahoo spokesperson told ClickZ News, “We are aggressively looking to fill that position.”
Now, the hierarchical layer once occupied by Bradford has been removed, and top sales execs will report directly to Schneider (pictured above).
“The North American sales organization will now report directly to Hilary Schneider, EVP of the Americas,” the company said in a statement sent to ClickZ. “This organizational change will elevate the strong executive talent at Yahoo! and accelerate our momentum in the marketplace.”
As confirmed by a Yahoo spokesperson, four top sales execs will take on added responsibilities: Mitch Spolan, VP field sales and agencies; Seth Dallaire, VP mid market and audience channel sales; Frank Weishaupt, VP sales development, operations and marketplaces; and Jim Stothard, VP account management. Stothard plans to leave Yahoo for personal reasons, and will work with Schneider to recruit a replacement.
Schneider is no stranger to Yahoo’s ad sales efforts, and has become somewhat of a fixture at Yahoo amid an array of executive changeovers, shuffling, and sales restructurings since beginning her stint there in 2006. She started as SVP of Marketplaces, charged with developing the division’s classifieds and listings strategy. Following a shift to lead Yahoo’s Publisher Network (which drives its newspaper consortium), Schneider in 2007 was chosen to head a newly-created Global Partner Solutions group, handling all relationships with advertisers, agencies, publishers, and ad networks.