David Kenny Named CEO, Board Member of Nielsen Holdings

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, November 21, 2018 | 1:54pm CT

David Kenny

David Kenny will join Nielsen as CEO as well as the company's board of directors. He joins Nielsen from IBM, where he led IBM's Cognitive Solutions business. Kenny succeeds Mitch Barns who, as previously announced, is retiring from the company on December 31 after 22 years. Prior to IBM, he was Chairman and CEO of The Weather Company, joining IBM after their acquisition of The Weather Company's Product and Technology Business. He previously was President of cloud service provider Akamai and served as Co-Managing Partner at Publicis' VivaKi.

"The board is delighted to announce David's appointment," said Nielsen Executive Chairman James Attwood. "His decades of experience in Big Data, artificial intelligence, cloud technologies, and media make him perfectly suited to lead Nielsen at this critical time. Having spent a substantial portion of his career working in the advertising world, he has a deep and holistic understanding of advertisers and how best to serve them, and he has a proven track record of implementing growth strategies, overseeing strategic transactions and creating value for stakeholders."

"Nielsen is uniquely placed at the intersection of marketing data and technology. In today's era of fast moving, ever changing consumers and markets, it is this combination that drives businesses forward," added Kenny. "I'm thrilled to join this industry-leading company at this point in time, when so much is possible."

Kenny serves on the Board of Directors of Best Buy and Teach for America. He also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's degree from the GM Institute (now Kettering University).