A shaken Sue Decker shakes up Yahoo marketing
Looks like Yahoo marketing head Cammie Dunaway's departure caught Sunnyvale offguard — much like sales chief Wenda Harris Millard's. Yahoo president Sue Decker's followup email, sent out after Dunaway's announcement, details the management changes on the marketing side of Yahoo. The takeaway: Dunaway had no deputy or clear line of succession. We count 10 different people named as the head of the different sections and divisions that Dunaway ran. Anyone have more scoop? Fill us in. Want to see Decker's full email? It's below.
As you may have heard, on November 2, Cammie Dunaway will leave Yahoo! to take on a new challenge. In her 4 1/2 years, she built an award winning direct marketing team; improved our customer insights; and found creative ways to improve our brand. Cammie has strengthened the Marketing function and built a strong bench of creative talent. I'd like to thank Cammie for her leadership and dedication and all that she has done for Yahoo! I wish her the best in her future endeavors.
Since the formation of the President organization, Cammie and I have discussed the best way to align the Customer Experience Division (CED) with our new purpose and strategies. In support of our "Must Buy" big bet we have already moved advertiser and publisher marketing into the Global Partners Solutions (GPS) division. We will now take this opportunity to move a number of functions to support our consumer "Starting Point" big bet and initiate a more dedicated focus of insights as part of our core Yahoo strategy. Therefore we are making the following changes.
Yahoo! Network Marketing
The following teams will now report into the Yahoo! Network Division (YND):
- Audience "Go to Market" team led by David Riemer
- Direct Marketing led by Nick Besbeas
- Consumer/Customer Innovation led by Karin Timpone
- Customer Care led by Laura Narducci
We will take the next few weeks to determine the head of a new YND Marketing organization. In the meantime, David Riemer will continue to be the point of contact for YND marketing efforts.
Strategy and Insights
Given the important role of insights to our company strategy we are aligning the Customer Insights organization with Corporate Strategy so we can better leverage insights across Yahoo, globally. Therefore, Peter Daboll will now report to Gerry Horkan, head of Corporate Strategy.
Customer Experience Division
The following teams will now comprise the Customer Experience division:
- The Brand team led by Allen Olivo. Jorge Consuegra will report to Allen and focus on Brand Marketing for international.
- Policy and Editorial team led by Ninj.
- Central UED led by Larry Tesler.
As we consider a replacement for Cammie leading this team, Allen Olivo will serve as the acting leader and report to me.
While we are sorry to see Cammie go, we have a strong team of marketing and customer experience leaders. I'm confident that moving forward, these teams will continue to produce the strong, award-winning work they're known for.
Thank you for your continued creativity and support.
Sue