IBM’s Kenny named CEO of Nielsen

US – Nielsen has appointed IBM’s David Kenny as its new chief executive, succeeding Mitch Barns.

Kenny has been senior vice-president of IBM Watson and the company’s Cognitive Solutions business since early 2016, leading the AI platform and portfolio and developing Watson. Prior to IBM he spent five years as chairman and chief executive of The Weather Company and has held director roles at Yahoo and Publicis.

Current chief executive Mitch Barns will retire on 31 December after 22 years with the business. Kenny takes up the role effective from 3 December, and will also join the company’s board of directors.

James Attwood, executive chairman of Nielsen, said: "David’s decades of experience in big data, artificial intelligence, cloud technologies, and media make him perfectly suited to lead Nielsen at this critical time. Having spent a substantial portion of his career working in the advertising world, he has a deep and holistic understanding of advertisers and how best to serve them, and he has a proven track record of implementing growth strategies, overseeing strategic transactions and creating value for stakeholders."

Kenny joins as Nielsen continues its strategic review, assessing a range of options including continuing to operate as a public, independent company, separating out either its Buy or Watch segments, or a sale. No timescale for the completion of the review has been shared by the company.

Attwood added: "The board looks forward to David’s participation in the ongoing strategic review as we work to enhance shareholder value."

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Research Live is published by MRS.

The Market Research Society (MRS) exists to promote and protect the research sector, showcasing how research delivers impact for businesses and government.

Members of MRS enjoy many benefits including tailoured policy guidance, discounts on training and conferences, and access to member-only content.

For example, there's an archive of winning case studies from over a decade of MRS Awards.

Find out more about the benefits of joining MRS here.

0 Comments

Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Newsletter
Stay connected with the latest insights and trends...
Sign Up
Latest From MRS

Our latest training courses

Our new 2025 training programme is now launched as part of the development offered within the MRS Global Insight Academy

See all training

Specialist conferences

Our one-day conferences cover topics including CX and UX, Semiotics, B2B, Finance, AI and Leaders' Forums.

See all conferences

MRS reports on AI

MRS has published a three-part series on how generative AI is impacting the research sector, including synthetic respondents and challenges to adoption.

See the reports

Progress faster...
with MRS 
membership

Mentoring

CPD/recognition

Webinars

Codeline

Discounts