GroupM, one of the largest media buying agencies, has named Lyle Schwartz president of investment for North America.
Schwartz, who had been head of research for the company, will be assuming the responsibilities of Rino Scanzoni, who has long been chief investment officer for GroupM, a unit of WPP.
Scanzoni will become executive chairman and CEO of Midas Exchange, WPP's company focused on corporate trade, and Modi Media, GroupM's advanced TV unit. Scanzoni will continue to create new trading products as well as contribute to market strategy, the company said.
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GroupM said the change was part of an effort to simplify its management structure and deliver media services and platform services to its clients.
On the platform side, GroupM named Phil Cowdell president of platform services, a new organization that includes all of the company's data-centric solutions. That includes programmatic media, search marketing, social media, digital operations and digital analytics.
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Schwartz and Cowdell report to Brian Lesser, CEO of GroupM North America.
Schwartz has been with GroupM for 30 years and helped create C3 ratings for time-shifted viewing, helped develop viewability standards, and led the charge for cross-platform measurement, the company said.
"Rino Scanzoni is widely recognized as one of the most determined, innovative and influential media investment chiefs, not only in the U.S., but worldwide," said Irwin Gotlieb, chairman of GroupM Global. "Rino's unwavering focus on negotiating the best media opportunities and the best value for our clients, combined with his uncanny ability to find solutions that also benefit our media partners has strengthened the media ecosystem in the U.S. and has driven our clients' and GroupM's success. We're so very pleased that he will continue working with our group in a new capacity focused on Midas Exchange, Modi Media and strategic marketplace opportunities."
Cowdell had been North American CEO of MediaCom, which has won $1.5 billion in new business.
"Aligning our teams and resources under an experienced leader like Phil will expand the support GroupM provides to our agencies and their clients," Lesser said. "With his track record leading successful agency teams, he knows very well the need for powerful, nimble and adaptable tools to help drive our clients' success, and his inspiring leadership will help the Platform Services team do just that."
GroupM's media agencies include Mindshare, MEC, MediaCom, Maxus and Essence.
(Photo via GotCredit's Flickr. Image taken on May 3, 2016 and used per Creative Commons 2.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 3x4 aspect ratio.)
