Joe Hogan Gains Oversight of Xandr Media Sales in Interim WarnerMedia Move

Joe Hogan has temporarily been given oversight of media sales at Xandr, the ad-tech unit that was operated separately from WarnerMedia’s ad sales efforts until April, when the two operations were combined, according to two people familiar with the matter. Hogan, a longtime WarnerMedia sales executive who at one time had direct supervision of outreach to advertisers on behalf of Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, has been running ad sales for all of the company’s video efforts since longtime president Donna Speciale parted ways with WarnerMedia last July.

WarnerMedia declined to make executives available for comment

Staffers were recently informed that Jason Brown, Xandr’s chief revenue officer who oversees media sales for the unit, would report to Hogan on an interim basis. Meanwhile, Amit Chaturvedi oversees revenue operations and product management for WarnerMedia’s ad sales staff, while Katrina Cukaj, a veteran staffer who once led ad-sales efforts for CNN, is responsible for ad-sales strategy and network partnerships. Amy Leifer supervises operations and services. Hogan, Chaturvedi, Cukaj and Leifer all report to Tony Goncalves, who was named to supervise ad sales and distribution as part of a reorganization of the unit recently set in place by WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar.

It remains unclear whether Hogan’s new duties would give him an edge in WarnerMedia’s current consideration of a new ad-sales president

The company has eyed a handful of executives to fill the role, according to five people with knowledge of some of the discussions. These people suggest a few of the candidates may have ties to Jason Kilar,  who helped launch Hulu when it was owned by NBCUniversal and the former 21^st Century Fox.

WarnerMedia has seen a parade of senior ad executives leave in recent months. In addition to Speciale and her boss, former Turner president David Levy, former Xandr CEO Brian Lesser left in March of this year. On Tuesday, WPP’s GroupM, one of the nation’s biggest ad-buying firms, named Kirk McDonald, who had been chief business officer at Xandr, to oversee its North American operations as CEO.