NBCUniversal Restructures Ad Exec Ranks; Olympic boss Dan Lovinger is leaving

Dan Lovinger, who recently led NBCUniversal’s advertising push at the Paris Olympics, is among a handful of employees leaving the company as part of a sweeping shakeup of its senior leadership team.

The overhaul was announced Monday by Alison Levin, president of advertising and partnerships, who joined NBCU last December after nearly nine years at Roku. (Read her full memo below.)

In addition to the departure of some employees, Levin also announced plans to hire some new employees in emerging business areas. She will discuss the changes in a virtual all-hands meeting on Tuesday.

Discussing the approach to sports, Levin wrote: “This expanded team, which will now include all Olympic sales as well as our sports division, will leverage a unified strategy across all sports properties to maximize revenue from our properties and will be led by Peter Lazarus. ” . ” In 2022, Lazarus was promoted to head of sports advertising while Lovinger was moved to an Olympics-focused position. His title was President, Olympic and Paralympic Sales. Lovinger joined NBCU in 2011 after previously working at MTV Networks, CNBC and Turner Broadcasting.

“This new structure means we also say goodbye to some of our long-time colleagues and friends,” Levin wrote. “These decisions are never easy, and I want to thank these executives for their commitment and many contributions to NBCUniversal. Thanks to their hard work, our company is stronger today.

“As we look to the future, it is imperative that we support each other and continue to promote a culture of transparency and collaboration. I am incredibly optimistic about our future and with this new, lean structure, I know we have the right strategy, assets and team in place to grow our market share and better position ourselves for success. “

NBCU said it generated more than $1.25 billion in advertising and sponsorship revenue from the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, a new Olympic record.

Here is Levin’s full memo:

Hello everyone,

I would like to share an update on our sales team. In the nine months since joining NBCU, I have been impressed and inspired by the creativity, innovation and hard work of this group. During this time I also gained a better understanding of the sales organization and what changes we need to make moving forward.

Together, our team must focus on growing the business, selling the audience first and maximizing sales for our big moments. To best achieve these goals, we need a structure that allows our sales team to do what they do best – sell – while strengthening our support functions to more effectively handle operational tasks, accelerate decision-making and processes to rationalize. We also need to invest more heavily in key growth areas such as program expansion and customer diversification.

So we’re making some important changes to the way we function as a team. Our new sales leadership and key business areas that will report to me are as follows:

Agency and large holding company supervision: All agencies and major holding companies are now led by Mark Miller and Ann Scheiner and supported by our incredibly strong team of agency SVPs. Mark will continue to oversee Magna and our global business and assume responsibility for Publicis. Ann will continue to oversee Dentsu and GroupM, adding OMG.

Advertiser diversification and strategic revenue growth:This new pillar will bring together key business groups and, under a new EVP role, will be responsible for diversifying our revenue through new advertisers and partnerships.

Sports & Olympics: This expanded team, which will now encompass all Olympic sales as well as our sports vertical, will leverage a unified strategy across all sports properties to maximize revenue from our properties and will be led by Peter Lazarus.

Local: This team will continue to be led by Frank Comerfordoversees all commercial efforts for the department’s local television stations and related platforms.

Christina Gloriosowill continue to lead the training and development of our sales team through our Center of Excellence program and report to me Melissa Lauxwill continue to lead Sales Enablement while reporting to Karen Kovacs and myself. Additionally, we will also be hiring for new mid-level positions to reflect our investments in key growth areas.

With this new structure, we also say goodbye to some of our long-standing colleagues and friends. These decisions are never easy, and I want to thank these leaders for their commitment and many contributions to NBCUniversal. Thanks to their hard work, our company is stronger today.

Going forward, it is imperative that we support each other and continue to promote a culture of transparency and collaboration. I am incredibly optimistic about our future and I know that with this new, lean structure, we have the right strategy, assets and team in place to grow our market share and better position ourselves for success.

I will share more details about our new structure and future plans with my team in a virtual all-hands meeting on Tuesday, October 15 at 12:30 pm ET (Invitation to Follow). I look forward to seeing you all there.

Thank you very much,
Alison