Sunnyvale, California — Six months after sales chief Joanne Bradford left for Demand Media, Yahoo Inc announced today that it was reorganizing its advertising sales force, finally filling the void left by her departure since mid-March, by distributing the responsibilities for its North American sales operations among four internal executives instead of replacing the sales boss that left the Internet giant nearly five months ago.
Rather than finding a replacement for Bradford, as Yahoo had advocated it was trying to do, but now four North American senior ad executives will now be assigned with larger portfolios and will report directly to Hilary Schneider, who is in charge of the Americas for Yahoo. Schneider had been managing sales temporarily in the wake of Bradford’s departure.
In a statement, Yahoo says “This organizational restructuring will elevate the strong executive talent at Yahoo and accelerate our momentum in the marketplace,” said Schneider in an interview today.
The latest move, which appears as Yahoo works to revive stalled revenue growth, since Bradford stepped down as head of U.S. revenue and market development for Yahoo in mid-March. The change will facilitate the company to better serve its various advertising customers and bring the sales team closer to Yahoo’s senior management, said Schneider in a statement.
Schneider added that the new arrangement was not due to challenges finding a substitute for Bradford, noting that the company had a lot of interest from very qualified people but found its internal candidates best-suited for the job.
Yahoo reached a similar conclusion back in January, when it decided to call off a search for an international chief and adjust the structure of its existing international executive team instead. Schneider had been handling the search for an external replacement for Bradford, using star headhunter Jim Citrin of Spencer Stuart.
CEO Carol Bartz said then that the company apparently was unable to find the kind of “prominent name who was up to our needs,” Yahoo had been seeking for the job, after trying to attract several well-known candidates and rejecting others.
“Our leadership in sales is the strongest to date,” said Schneider, explaining the new structure for its ad sales force. “I have kissed a lot of frogs over the years, but it turned out the Prince Charmings we always needed were back at the ranch.”
Schneider said the four executives at Yahoo would report directly to her, thus cutting off a layer of management and bringing the sales operations closer to her and Chief Executive Carol Bartz.
The marketplace is changing rapidly and bringing complete solutions is really the mantra of where the market is going. “Yahoo essentially is elevating the sales organization within the structure,” Schneider said.
“Each of our leaders has strong relationships with advertisers and they know and trust each other,” said Schneider. “I will be consolidating the operational hub and directly managing it this time.”
Among the changes:
Mitch Spolan: The 11-year Yahoo veteran who is in charge of North American field sales, will also pick up responsibility for agency development and relationships.
Seth Dallaire: Who has been running mid-market sales, will now be in charge of channel sales, reseller relationships and new and emerging formats, such as video, local, social and mobile.
Frank Weishaupt: Who has been in charge of marketplaces, will add sales operations and training and sales development to his portfolio.
Lastly, Jim Stothard: Who has been in charge of account management, will be leaving Yahoo for personal reasons, but will be working with Schneider to find his replacement.
Yahoo in its official statement about the changes said:
“Yahoo! is committed to maintaining and strengthening partnerships with advertisers and agencies, and has a long history of sales leadership in the industry. The North American sales organization will now report directly to Hilary Schneider, EVP of the Americas. This organizational change will elevate the strong executive talent at Yahoo! and accelerate our momentum in the marketplace.”
Yahoo is among the most popular destinations on the Internet and the largest provider of the graphical display ads that appear on Web pages, according to analysts. But Google and others have stepped up competitive efforts aggressively.