In his new role, Mr Howard will be responsible for the U.S. and European digital and print sales organization, marketing and advertising solutions. Forbes Media Chief Revenue Officer Meredith Levien has decided to leave Forbes to assume the role of EVP of Advertising at The New York Times.
"Meredith has made very significant contributions to our success over the last five years, and we wish her well in her next venture," said Mike Perlis, President and CEO of Forbes Media. "Meredith and Mark have been close partners in driving our revenue strategy and seizing opportunities in the two hottest trends in advertising -- programmatic buying and native advertising. Mark is one of the most knowledgeable people in the marketplace on native ads and, during his more than ten years at Forbes, has become well versed in what our brand stands for, selling print and digital, and the power of our content model and publishing platform. We look forward to his continued leadership."
2012 marked Forbes Media's best year-over-year digital advertising growth since 2006, with digital revenues for the company increasing 19% compared to 2011. The growth was due to the work of the advertising teams, as well as the significant investments made in advertising products and infrastructure, says the company. Last year, 10% of the company's advertising revenues came from advertisers who incorporated BrandVoice, Forbes’ thought leadership platform, into their buys, and Forbes is projecting more than 20% by the end of 2013. Business momentum continues this year as a result of leveraging the company's differentiated product set for premium digital advertising and strategic work in the programmatic buying and selling space. And Forbes magazine’s print order flow is strong for 2013.
"Today, we have an innovative publishing platform, we're setting records for traffic growth, and our advertising revenues are up when many others are down. This is an exciting time for Forbes Media given the success of our direct sales, evolving BrandVoice platform and programmatic lines of business," said Mark Howard. "Our focus will continue to center around providing marketers with the right solutions for their objectives. I'm excited to lead our teams to even greater levels of success and embrace a new wave of innovation."
Mr Howard joined Forbes Media in 2002. He was promoted to Forbes Media SVP of Digital Advertising Strategy in early 2012. He has held various roles during his 10-year tenure at the company, including digital advertising sales, integrated advertising sales leading the West and Central Sales teams, and corporate digital sales strategy, which included new product development, the creation and development of audience segmentation programs and strategic planning. Prior to joining Forbes Media, Mr Howard held sales positions at Inc. and Fast Company magazines as well as E-Trade Financial. He began his career as a media planner at Anderson & Lembke. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Marketing.
