Aksel (pictured) joined Time Out in 2010, having most recently held the role of Seatwave's Chief Financial Officer, overseeing Seatwave's finance and governance activities across Europe. Prior to joining Seatwave, Aksel was CFO of Vodafone's Global Business Development unit.
Aksel holds an MBA from INSEAD, France, and graduated from Leiden University, Netherlands, with an LLM in international corporate tax law.
Aksel’s role at Time Out will now incorporate heading up Time Out North America, as well as continuing to oversee his responsibilities in the UK. Aksel takes over from President Alison Tocci. In May of this year Oakley Capital Private Equity L.P. acquired a majority stake in Time Out America LLC (“Time Out New York”).
Leading the North American operation alongside Aksel will be Marisa Fariña, EVP/Group Publisher and Elizabeth Barr, EVP/Editorial Director.
Globally, Time Out is present in 35 cities across the world, with a worldwide audience of 16 million across both print and digital channels. Its websites have over 7 million global unique users per month with page views exceeding 32 million.
Aksel’s appointment will continue to enhance Time Out Group’s ability to:
• Grow the brand’s reach in both wholly owned and managed territories and through its licensee network to over 50 cities
• Expand Time Out Group’s digital strategy by investing in the development of a single multichannel online platform powered by a central content database and transaction engine
• Extend Time Out Group’s mobile content offering and transaction capability, building on the fact that mobile application downloads have exceeded 1 million to date.
David King, CEO of Time Out Group, said: “Time Out is in the process of recruiting new digital expertise and talent into the organization; we’re delighted to be able to bring Aksel’s unique experience and insight into Time Out as part of this drive”.
Aksel van der Wal says: “The next 24 months will see the group develop entirely new, highly scalable digital transaction capabilities across North America and the UK. These will be focused on providing Time Out’s audience with a complete customer experience which combines market leading information and content with end-to-end booking capabilities. In order to best be able to do this, we need to be able to build an incredibly strong team, at both national and international level. It will be this which will be the focus of my energies alongside plans to be locally relevant, especially in terms of our digital presence, in at least three more major US cities within the next three years”.
