The Guardian has appointed Hamish Nicklin, the managing director of the UK arm of Huffington Post owner AOL, to the newly created role of chief revenue officer.
Nicklin, a former sales director at Google where he worked for nine years, will be responsible for Guardian News & Media’s advertising revenues, its jobs operation and branded content division Guardian Labs.
“I am delighted to have attracted someone of Hamish’s calibre to the role of chief revenue officer of GNM,” said David Pemsel, chief executive officer of the Guardian’s parent company GMG. “With his in-depth knowledge of the commercial media sector, Hamish will play a key role in unlocking the full potential of the Guardian’s valuable audience and cross-platform reach.”
Nicklin, who has run AOL UK since June last year, will also be responsible for building relationships directly with major clients and media agencies internationally.
He will also sit on Guardian News & Media’s executive committee.
“The Guardian has an outstanding reputation for ground breaking journalism and innovative news products, making it one of the most exciting media brands in the world,” said Nicklin. “It’s a brand and an organisation that I have always admired and respected, so the opportunity to be part of that was simply too good to turn down and I am really excited to play a key role in its future.”
In June, AOL struck a 10-year deal to take over Microsoft’s display advertising business in nine major markets.
As part of the deal Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, ousted Google to power AOL’s search.
