The Weather Channel Companies (TWCC) has hired direct marketing veteran David Kenny as its new chairman and CEO, effective immediately, the company said.
Former CEO Mike Kelly has stepped down and will serve as a special adviser to the CEO and the board of directors of TWCC. He will also serve as an adviser to Bain Capital, which is owned by the same consortium as TWCC.
In his role, Kenny will work with the media company’s management team and the Board of Directors to help grow the brand in the United States and internationally.
“I was attracted to The Weather Channel because the information we provide is so vital to the everyday life of consumers and businesses worldwide – I love the mission,” said Kenny, via email.
The Weather Channel creates content and sells ad space across platforms including TV, online and mobile, reaching 163 million people across content platforms.
Kenny will be tasked with growing TWCC’s footprint in these channels. “I’m energized by the opportunity to work with our partners, affiliates, advertisers and agencies and to accelerate our efforts to make our platforms even more valuable to them,” he added. “My focus is not to change anything at the Weather Channel as the right strategy is already in place, but it’s to go faster. I think we’ll be able to accelerate our strategies on digital, mobile and long-form programming.”
Kenny comes to TWCC from mobile cloud computing company Akamai where he served as president. Prior to Akamai, Kenny cofounded and served as managing partner of VivaKi, the digital arm of the Publicis Groupe. Prior to that, he was CEO of Digitas for more than a decade.
