Randall Rothenberg will return to the Interactive Advertising Bureau as president and CEO, the same position he held at the industry organization before leaving it last month to become EVP and chief digital officer at Time Inc., the group said February 22.
The move comes less than a week after Time Inc. reportedly fired CEO Jack Griffin. Rothenberg told Direct Marketing News in December that Griffin, a member of the IAB’s board of directors, had contacted him about joining the publishing company.
Rothenberg told Direct Marketing News on February 23 that he “started having conversations on Friday” with IAB about returning to the group. He said he made his decision to rejoin the organization on February 21 and informed Time Inc. of that choice the day after.
Rothenberg described the impact of Griffin’s departure from Time Inc. on the timing of his own career move as “fairly straightforward.”
“I came here very much to work with and for [Griffin] and on these incredible brands with these great people, but circumstances were such that it just seemed to make a lot of sense that I just return [to IAB],” he said. “No harm, no foul.”
Rothenberg added that he will rejoin IAB between March 7 and 14.
Time Inc. will be a charter sponsor of the IAB Ad Lab and will continue to be represented on the IAB board of directors, the group said in a statement.
