In a move that speaks to the new importance of its non-media revenues, DoubleClick solidified and reorganized its upper management ranks on Thursday — appointing a CFO and its first CIO, and promoting David Rosenblatt to the post of president.
The appointment of Rosenblatt — who formerly served as president of New York-based DoubleClick’s Technology, Data and Research groups — fills the post vacated last July, when president and chief operating officer Kevin Ryan stepped up to the firm’s chief executive position.
Rosenblatt comes to the job having proved himself in overseeing three of the company’s four chief business areas, which made him responsible for the divisions contributing more than 70 percent of DoubleClick’s revenue.
Prior to his taking on the additional responsibility of heading up the Web ad leader’s Data and Research units last November, Rosenblatt served as senior vice president of DoubleClick’s technology business unit, which in recent quarters has grown to become the company’s largest gross profit contributor.
In addition to announcing Rosenblatt’s appointment, DoubleClick said it had formally named Bruce Dalziel as chief financial officer. Dalziel, formerly vice president of finance and operations for the company’s Technology, Data and Research businesses, had been tabbed as acting CFO role in August, when Stephen Collins resigned.
DoubleClick also hired Mok Choe as its first chief information officer. Choe joins the company from Ameritrade, where he served as co-CIO and helped to develop the online brokerage’s trading platform. Similarly, at DoubleClick, he’ll be responsible for leading its technology, systems and development efforts.
Prior to Ameritrade, Choe served in related positions in the insurance industry for Nationwide Insurance and USF&G, and in the finance world, at Citicorp, DEC and General Motors.
“Mok’s extensive experience in mission critical systems in an Internet business environment, coupled with experience in application development, will help DoubleClick continue to offer innovative solutions for Web publishers, advertisers and agencies,” Ryan said.
The moves drive home just how far DoubleClick has shifted away from media as its chief business. Over the past 24 months, the company has made sweeping efforts to reinvent itself as a provider of ad serving technology, direct and database marketing, and media planning services.
With technology, data and research executives now occupying two of its upper-most executive positions, and the establishment of a new technology-related executive post, DoubleClick’s new appointments continue and, in a sense, formalize that trend.
“We are focused on building an executive team with a proven track record of managing technology-related products, to provide our customers with leading-edge solutions that make marketing work better,” Ryan said. “It is DoubleClick’s disciplined management team, led by David and Bruce, that has allowed us to successfully execute on driving our business forward and increasing our leadership position in the industry.”
