It didn't take long for Maryam Banikarim to find a new gig.
The former Univision CMO has been hired by NBC Universal as senior vice president, integrated sales marketing.
In her new post, Banikarim, who resigned her position at Univision on Feb. 11, is responsible for the enterprise marketing sales efforts for the company, working with clients outside of the transactional environment to identify targeted advertising opportunities across a spectrum of NBCU platforms. In this capacity, Banikarim, who is in Iran and unavailable for immediate comment, reports to Mike Pilot, president of sales and marketing at the programmer.
"Maryam is a seasoned marketing executive with nearly 20 years of experience across a wide range of media," said Pilot in a statement. "She's creative, isn't afraid to experiment, and most importantly, understands how a media company can effectively function as a first-class marketing partner for its clients."
Banikarim is also charged with overseeing sales marketing for the company's women and lifestyle cross-platform sales initiatives, Women@NBCU and Green is Universal. She reports to Lauren Zalaznick, president, NBC Universal Women & Lifestyle Entertainment Networks, in those areas.
"She will be a tremendous asset to our Women & Lifestyle Entertainment Networks team as we continue to build on the successful sales initiatives in the marketplace," said Zalaznick.
As Univision's first CMO, Banikarim oversaw marketing activities across TV, radio, online and music platforms. With her departure two weeks ago, Univision said it is not filling the CMO position. She joined the U.S. Spanish-language media leader in 2002 as senior vice president of strategic marketing for Univision Networks. NBCU's Telemundo and mun2 competes with Univision, its broadcast brethren Telefutura and cable cousin Galavision.
Prior to working at Univision, Banikarim served as a management consultant specializing in marketing for a variety of clients including Time Warner, Deutsche Bank and Bacardi Ltd. Her previous experience includes roles as the marketing director for CitySearch and as a market planner for Turner Broadcasting.
She began her career in 1993 as an account executive at Young & Rubicam.
Banikarim was recently named by the editors of Multichannel News as a 2009 "Woman to Watch."
