USA Today has hired a new senior marketing executive -- Sandra Micek -- from the same NBCUniversal unit where Maryam Banikarim worked before she was named Gannett's first chief marketing officer three months ago.
Micek, with the title of senior vice president, will oversee marketing, brand development, communications and research, the newspaper said today in a statement. It appears Micek is replacing Jeffrey Wilks, who held the SVP marketing title for just seven months prior to his unannounced departure in early May.
Micek joins USAT from NBCUniversal, where as part of the Integrated Strategic Marketing Team she led the “Women at NBCU” initiative, according to USAT.
For her part, Banikarim was the New York-based network's SVP of integrated sales marketing at the time GCI announced her CMO appointment.
The timing of Micek's hiring is noteworthy. Only two weeks ago, USAT disclosed it had appointed Susie Elwood as the paper's deputy publisher. Ellwood has a long background in marketing, so would certainly take a keen interest in any marketing-related hires. Perhaps one of her first decisions included blessing Micek's appointment. (Or she wisely didn't want to cross the more powerful Banikarim. In any case, there are plenty of potential Corporate politics at play here.)
In its statement, USAT said that, prior to joining NBCUniversal, Micek spent nearly 10 years in Silicon Valley, holding a variety of jobs at Yahoo, including guiding consumer and partner marketing for some of Yahoo’s key businesses such as Yahoo Mobile and the subscription-based Yahoo Personals.
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Micek joins USAT from NBCUniversal, where as part of the Integrated Strategic Marketing Team she led the “Women at NBCU” initiative, according to USAT.
For her part, Banikarim was the New York-based network's SVP of integrated sales marketing at the time GCI announced her CMO appointment.
The timing of Micek's hiring is noteworthy. Only two weeks ago, USAT disclosed it had appointed Susie Elwood as the paper's deputy publisher. Ellwood has a long background in marketing, so would certainly take a keen interest in any marketing-related hires. Perhaps one of her first decisions included blessing Micek's appointment. (Or she wisely didn't want to cross the more powerful Banikarim. In any case, there are plenty of potential Corporate politics at play here.)
In its statement, USAT said that, prior to joining NBCUniversal, Micek spent nearly 10 years in Silicon Valley, holding a variety of jobs at Yahoo, including guiding consumer and partner marketing for some of Yahoo’s key businesses such as Yahoo Mobile and the subscription-based Yahoo Personals.
I don't disagree with Jim's analysis, but do note the press release quotes Hunke as making the appointment. Should we believe that, or not?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sandra-cordova-micek-named-senior-vice-president-of-marketing-at-usa-today-124185334.html
Interesting. I heard the GCI-Yahoo connection wasn't producing much that excited anyone, so does it now continue, or discontinue. Micek looks like she has some expertise in technology as well as marketing.
ReplyDelete1:14 That quote may simply be a courtesy. From my vantage, Hunke is more and more of a figurehead each day. Remember: Ellwood is now in charge of day-to-day operations.
ReplyDeleteIn a year -- and perhaps much sooner -- she'll have Hunke's job.
1:23 Not another year of this. Please. Have mercy and get it over with and done so we can move along. All this stuffing of executives into their Crystal Palace offices is making us constipated.
ReplyDeleteBoy this is some shoddy reporting. She is not replacing Wilks, he had a different job and the apoitnment was made by Hunke, Ellwood had nothing to do with it. Do you report or just make it up as you go.
ReplyDelete.....communications, you say. So does half of Robin's shop now come under somebody else's control? If so, I think I know someone very territorial who will not be at all happy.
ReplyDelete1:29 Please tell me how Wilks' job was different than Micek's.
ReplyDeleteHere's what USAT said back on Oct. 19:
Jeffrey Wilks has been named to the newly created position of senior vice president of brand marketing for USA TODAY. Wilks will be responsible for overseeing brand marketing, client solutions, communications and event marketing and research at USA TODAY.
Today, USAT said:
Sandra Cordova Micek has been named senior vice president of marketing for USA TODAY where she will oversee marketing, brand development, communications and research.
Also, 1:29, if I were Micek and Ellwood "had nothing to do with" my getting hired, I would be more than a little nervous.
ReplyDeleteWell, now it is clear Banikarim was behind the "resignation" of Jeffrey Wilkes and moved quickly to install Micek. Not that hard to figure out.
ReplyDeleteSays plenty about Banikarim's control over all things marketing at GCI.
I wonder where this leaves Rudd Davis, who last September was named USAT's vice president of business development. From the statement announcing his hiring:
ReplyDelete"Davis will lead a new department responsible for business innovation, developing and securing new business opportunities and strategic partnerships including brand licensing, content syndication, acquisitions and joint ventures. Davis will also assume oversight of USA TODAY’s retail, hotel and education-based partnerships. He will be based in Los Angeles."
2:19 Yes, I could agree with you except I am still seeing these ads on TV for the new "within your reach" brand. I expected the campaign to have stopped by now, but it has not. Any explanation for that?
ReplyDelete2:30 I thought the hotel partnership program Rudd Davis oversees was facing some real tough times, as hotels are having second thoughts of being in the newspaper delivery business. There have been a couple of posts on this blog in recent months pointing this out. Since we have all these traveling execs, it should be easy to check on how the hotel program is going these days.
ReplyDeleteJim 1:42 no you wouldn't if you knew the truth, which as usual is not important here. You did a great job with the Freedon Forum. Use a little of that elbow grease to find out the pertinent facts here.
ReplyDeleteSigh. Another SVP. When are they going to bring in some bodies to do ACTUAL WORK?
ReplyDeleteI don't have anything really to back this up, but somehow I feel Maryam is beginning to move a little faster now to expand her grip over marketing. A Robin disappearance would confirm my hunch.
ReplyDelete7:07 You are obviously not aware of how things work. Maryam is the CMO. She doesn't need to move to expand her grip. She is the marketing chief. She already owns marketing at Gannett.
ReplyDeleteThis blog allows for a lot of stupidity.
I'm a USAT retiree and had dinner with a few of my former coworkers last night. Speculation is if Rudd Davis doesn't close a deal with Hilton Hotels, he will go the way of Jeffrey Wilks. Supposedly he is rarely seen and heard from.
ReplyDelete7:54,
ReplyDeleteYes, she "already owns marketing at Gannett." Including a branding campaign launched a week before she was hired and had nothing to do with. But, she "owns" marketing.