Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
In what we think is probably yes already, to be the best hire in 2017 we note that Exterion Media, Europe’s largest privately owned OOH company, this week announced the appointment of Dave King as its new Managing Director for the UK (previous incumbent Jason Cotterrell will move to the newly created role of Group Development Director in March).
It’s our own understanding that Dave King has more than likely, been on ‘gardening leave’ from the Telegraph Media Group these past few months (he starts at Exterion Media on January 23, 2017).
He truly is a great hire and Exterion Media CEO Shaun Gregory should be congratulated on bringing in a person of this calibre to help drive his business forward.
At the Telegraph Media Group, Dave King was Executive Director, operating in an extremely challenging part of the advertising sector, and he successfully spearheaded its commercial success. He continually produced market beating performance across his twelve year tenure and during his leadership, the newspaper transformed itself into an industry-leading Media Group – developing its digitised business model, creating new revenue streams and basically ensuring that the company was at the forefront of media innovation.
Prior to the Telegraph Media Group, Dave King was Managing Director of EMAP Advertising, and was responsible for EMAP’s commercial activities including radio, TV, magazines, online and digital media. For two decades, it was the fastest growing media company in the UK and won more media awards than any other company. Prior to EMAP, he was Head of Investment at Carat, responsible for the majority of UK media buying. He started his media career in television, with Ulster and Granada TV. King has studied at Harvard University and previously at Stanford University. Recently, he has been instrumental in the ‘industry project’ to bring all newspapers commercial offerings together under one platform.
Shaun Gregory, CEO of Exterion Media told us “Attracting someone of Dave’s calibre speaks volumes about our business. He has a first class track record across all forms of media, and the necessary experience in transitioning traditional business models into the digitised world we live in today. His career spans both the buy and sell side of our sector, and he has continually delivered results in every role he’s been in. This is testament to Dave’s leadership, his passion for putting clients front and centre and his laser-like focus on the performance of the business. Dave is joining the business at a pivotal time as we embark on the next chapter of our journey. He is a very welcome and great addition to our Leadership Team, and clearly well suited to the world of private equity.”
Dave King will be responsible for the UK business, with a focus on growing franchise operations, accelerating revenue growth and leading its transition into a true Digital Media Company. We fully expect him to start bringing in his own team of backroom staff at Exterion Media just as soon as he has his feet under the table. Watch this space!
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