Developing Capacity and Maximizing Impact - Helping Ad Agencies and ADVERTISERS Innovate, Evolve, & Grow.

The Challenge

AOL, alongside its Time Inc. sister brands, initiated a significant business-model shift—from consumer subscriptions (ISP and paid content) to an advertising-led model. AOL entered this transition with significant advantages, including substantial scale, highly trafficked digital destinations, and robust user data assets. However, the obstacles were considerable: legacy systems, a highly siloed operating structure, and limited adoption among major brand advertisers. Success required a strategic and operational reset—implementing new systems and standards, strengthening cross-functional collaboration, and reorienting the organization around the needs of brand advertisers.

My Role

I joined as a consultant, later transitioning to a full-time role, and advanced through positions of increasing scope, ultimately serving as Program Director. As my responsibilities expanded, my focus remained consistent: translating enterprise goals into an effective, executable, and scalable operating model. Working across Business Development, Sales, Operations, Editorial/Programming, Inventory, and Technology, I partnered closely with senior management and divisional leaders to align priorities, strengthen operating discipline, and drive cross-functional execution—improving quality, yield, and revenue performance.

What I Did

I built and led cross-functional teams and programs that transformed AOL’s sellable inventory—driving enterprise standardization and rollout, establishing governance and operating cadence, and building real-time analytics that informed core revenue decisions—ultimately creating a scalable, enterprise-wide monetization engine. As we refined and scaled the operating model, we institutionalized discipline across a complex organization while earning the confidence of advertising agencies and blue-chip brand advertisers.

Results

Leveraging my marketing and advertising background, I helped realign the organization to how advertisers plan, buy, and evaluate partners—turning agency skepticism into trust. Cross-functional execution became the norm as friction fell, improving speed, quality, and accountability. Real-time visibility into inventory availability and value enabled smarter pricing, packaging, and go-to-market decisions. Premium adoption accelerated, delivering first-time category wins and increasing annual commitments from blue-chip advertisers—Disney, P&G, Unilever, Apple, Intel, Toyota, American Express, and Johnson & Johnson. Over this period, annual advertising revenue tripled.

IMPACT

Building on my agency foundation in analytics, problem-solving, and execution, my time at AOL accelerated my executive development. I led strategic initiatives amid ambiguity and built consensus across peers and senior leaders—often without formal authority—using data to set priorities and shape agendas. I strengthened stakeholder management across a complex matrixed organization, translating decisions into durable processes, clear accountability, and sustained behavior change. Peers, supervisors and senior leadership praised my precision, conflict resolution, and results, recognizing my impact with the President’s Award for Distinguished Performance, AOL’s highest honor.