NEWS13 July 2011

Verklin to leave Canoe Ventures, names interim CEO

North America People

US— Canoe Ventures, a cable industry initiative to develop targeted interactive TV advertising, will say goodbye to chief executive David Verklin at the end of summer, to be replaced by chief operating officer Kathy Timko on an interim basis.

Timko (pictured) joined Canoe in 2009 as chief operating officer, and previously worked as COO at IDT Telecom.

Neil Smit, a Canoe board member and president of Comcast, said: “Kathy’s experience managing and scaling high-tech organisations, including her track record driving marketplace adoption and creating new business revenue, positions her well for leading Canoe through the next phase of its development.”

Canoe has developed request-for-information (RFI) ads, which appear as screen overlays during commercial breaks to offer viewers additional information about advertised products, free samples or coupons. Three cable networks already support the ads, with seven more slated to follow.

The organisation has yet to comment publicly on the reason for Verklin’s departure at press time, but US trade press reports say his contract was nearing its end.

@RESEARCH LIVE

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