I was very happy to see the news today that Tim was named the new Chairman & CEO of AOL. Tim's a friend and I've been fortunate to work with him first as a fellow board member at KnowledgeStorm and over the last 4+ years as an investor and Advisor to our fund, Greenhill SAVP.
Personally seeing Tim in action and having had the opportunity to pick his brain and exchange ideas on a number of initiatives over the years, I can state that his appointment as Chairman & CEO of AOL is one of the more important announcements in the digital media/advertising market in a long time. People that are in the know are aware of how significant of a role Tim played in the success of Google. Tim was long overdue to take the helm as CEO of a major media company.
I have no inside knowledge but I expect AOL will get the following from Tim:
- Strong leadership - Tim is a natural born leader and excels at rallying the troops towards a common goal
- Focus - Tim will bring real focus to AOL and will build on AOL's core strengths while jettisoning side projects that don't provide sustainable value to the franchise
- Re-Invigorated Sales Culture - Tim plays to win and as a former athlete is very competitive. Expect him to revamp and revitalize the ad sales team
- Deeper Technology Moat - Tim is generally thought of as a sales leader but he very much understands the importance of utilizing technology to create an edge over the competition. I expect Tim to emphasize technology through focused investment in R&D
Fixing AOL isn't an easy task but Time Warner couldn't have chosen a better individual both personally and professionally to make it happen. I wish Tim the best of luck and look forward to watching him lead AOL to a better future.
