Rocket Fuel MD of programmatic JJ Eastwood will replace HuffPost CEO Chris Janz as he moves to a newly-created position within Fairfax as director of publishing innovation.
Janz was the founding CEO of Allure Media, the digital publisher behind PopSugar, Business Insider, Gizmodo and Lifehacker. He has been the CEO of Huffington Post Australia, a joint benture between the Huffington Post and Fairfax Media, for a year and a half.
Eastwood joined programmatic marketing company Rocket Fuel when it launched locally in 2014. He has held previous roles within eBay, as head of advertising and commercial partnerships and GM of eBay advertising, and was the specialist sales director at Mi9. NASDAQ-listed Rocket Fuel, which last year signed a global deal with IPG Mediabrands-owned trading desk Cadreon to boost its cross-channel results, was involved in takeover deal spec from marketing cloud company and rival, Gravity4, last year.
The Huffington Post’s CEO, Jared Grusd, said: “JJ is an immensely talented sales leader and is perfectly suited to take HuffPost Australia to the next stage. He will use his strong commercial acumen and industry expertise to build on the terrific work done by Chris and the team since launching HuffPost Australia in August 2015.
“Chris was a pivotal force in establishing HuffPost Australia and we’re delighted he will stay involved as part of a newly-formed local Management Board, who together with JJ and local Editor-In-Chief, Tory Maguire, will guide our exciting plans for the brand’s continued growth in Australasia.”
Eastwood said: “I have a great respect for The Huffington Post brand and admire how they’ve established themselves in Australia over the last 12 months, delivering engaging content in a way that has created authentic connections with their audiences. I’m very optimistic about the future of digital media and look forward to working with the talented team at The Huffington Post.”
HuffPost Australia’s local Management Board will also include Fairfax Media’s group director of Digital Ventures, Guy Reypert, and CEO of digital publisher Allure Media, Jason Scott.
Reypert says: “We’re confident that JJ with his proven track record of building high performance commercial teams will continue the success achieved to date and take HuffPost Australia to even greater heights."
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