iHeartMedia announced Wednesday that four of its senior executives have been promoted into newly created roles as Division Presidents. These executives – Hartley Adkins, Greg Ashlock, Matt Martin and Tom McConnell – were formerly iHeartMedia Executive Vice Presidents of Operations.
These promotions reflect a new operating structure for iHeartMedia’s markets. The company, formerly organized into ‘Major’ and ‘Regional’ Market groups, will now be comprised of four geographic Divisions, each led by a new Division President. The Divisions are strategically organized into 36 Regions that will address the needs of both listeners and advertisers based on geography and will be led by Region Presidents drawn from within the company’s seasoned leadership team.
“The new structure under the leadership of Hartley, Greg, Matt and Tom adds nimbleness and new resources for our markets and stations,” said Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia, Inc. “We are taking advantage of our size and unparalleled assets to empower our people and our markets by giving them better access to all our cutting-edge resources, from digital to data, our programmatic automated ad buying system, research and technology and more, letting them take advantage of the big investments we’ve made and use them to benefit their listeners and advertising partners in their region.”
In addition to overseeing their Divisions, these four Division Presidents will also take on other responsibilities:
· Hartley Adkins, President of the Northeast Division and Corporate Operations will also oversee multi-cultural and strategic initiatives and communication for the Regions, working closely with Corporate teams;
· Greg Ashlock, President of the West Division, will also serve as the senior business leader representing the company in the Western U.S. across all divisions;
· Matt Martin, President of the Central Division, will also continue to oversee the company’s Sales Operations Center as well as direct and develop the company’s internal training programs; and
· Tom McConnell, President of the Midwest/Southeast Division, will also continue to work with the Regions on operational needs.
This almost seems like a non-announcement.
No matter how the Deck Chair Monitors are arranged. the implications include a dangerous dependency on whizz-bang, gosh-golly technologies.
Bacon will not be saved nor will chestnuts be rescued from the flames – not on tech alone.
Programmers need to present themselves to responsible management; snap to attention and describe what, specifically they are going to do and how, specifically they are going to accomplish a complete revamping of their tired and ineffective programming methodologies.
As a side note: They won’t be able to do it. These are not bad folks. They just don’t know.