Jerry Machovina, the ad-sales chief at AT&T Broadband
& Internet Services, has accepted the top job at an online ad-sales firm, bringing two
other AT&T Broadband executives with him.
Sources said last week that Machovina, executive vice
president of AT&T Media Services, is leaving the MSO to become president and CEO of
San Francisco-based Adauction.com.
That firm's chairman is Leo J. Hindery Jr., the former
Tele-Communications Inc. president and AT&T Broadband CEO who now runs a company
called GlobalCenter Inc.
Leaving to join Machovina at Adauction.com are Derek Chang,
AT&T Broadband's executive vice president of corporate development, and Laurie
Priddy, president of AT&T Broadband's interactive-offerings group.
Chang, like Machovina, is a Hindery lieutenant dating back
to their days together at MSO InterMedia Partners.
Priddy, who oversees AT&T Broadband's National
Digital Television Center, joined the MSO last March after running Cable Television
Laboratories Inc.'s OpenCable initiative.
Machovina's appointment -- the result of a two-month
search by recruiter Heidrick & Struggles International Inc. to replace Adauction.com
cofounder Chris Redlitz as CEO -- is scheduled to be announced today (Jan. 10), a source
close to the process said. The hirings of Chang and Priddy could be announced later this
week. Machovina's assistant said he would not return calls on the matter until this
week.
An AT&T Broadband spokeswoman said Thursday that she
had nothing to report along those lines, and she could not comment on "rumor and
speculation."
On its Web site, Adauction.com is described as an
"online marketplace" where space can be bought for a variety of online, print
and outdoor media. Hindery joined the board in June and became acting chairman in
November, after leaving AT&T Broadband. At the same time, it was announced that a new
Adauction.com CEO would be sought.
Machovina, 52, joined AT&T Broadband predecessor TCI as
ad-sales head in 1995. At AT&T Media Services, he oversaw an organization with more
than 2,500 employees in more than 100 TV markets.
He recently led a push for addressable advertising that
landed Kraft Foods as an AT&T Broadband client. His resume also includes helping to
create online auto-seller AutoMallUSA.com.
