Dynamic, experienced leader with extensive experience in all facets of building, growing and operating innovative media. Combines leadership qualities with hands-on experience in strategy, product management, marketing, audience development, social media, project management, business development, advertising, technology, user experience, and design.
Chief Digital Officer @ From December 2014 to Present (1 year 1 month) Greater New York City AreaVP / GM Digital Business Operations @ Lead digital operations for all 14 AMI publications including Radar, Shape, Men’s Fitness, OK!, Star and The National Enquirer.
• Overhauled Revenue Operations (Ad Operations, Sales Planning and Account Management) including building a high performing team; implementing new Sales Management tools, policies and procedures; and enhancing the ad technology stack to allow for better yield management.
• Launched Programmatic and Native Advertising products which generate more than half of digital revenue.
• Transformed Editorial and Audience Development teams to be more data-driven and use on-site, social, search and other audience signals to create and distribute more marketable content leading to a 3x increase in traffic. From April 2013 to Present (2 years 9 months) Greater New York City AreaFaculty, Columbia Publishing Course @ Faculty for the Magazine and Digital portion of the Columbia Publishing Course, a 6 week graduate program at the Columbia School of Journalism, Columbia University. From July 2009 to Present (6 years 6 months) GM, Digital U.S. @ Led U.S. digital efforts for Dennis Publishing including TheWeek.com and MentalFloss.com.
• Relaunched MentalFloss.com with a completely new user experience, tech platform, monetization strategy and editorial packaging leading to over 600% traffic growth, 400% revenue growth and the Webby Award for Best Cultural Blog in 2013.
• Launched mobile apps for each brand including apps for Kindle, Android and iOS. The iPad app for The Week which received a 4.5 star rating and reached #1 on the Apple Newsstand.
• Changed editorial staffing and strategy on TheWeek.com to embrace a more data-driven news curation model, which drove traffic from 1mm UV to 12mm UV/month. From 2011 to 2013 (2 years) Chief Digital Officer @ Led all operations for a women’s lifestyle digital media company focused on love and relationships content. Grew traffic to over 9mm UV’s through a combination of SEO, content partnerships, content marketing, advertising, and social media. Also managed the creation of the YourTango Experts network, which (for a fee) lists love and relationships experts in a searchable directory as well as
provide tools to help publish content on YourTango.com that could be used to market their services. From 2010 to 2011 (1 year) Greater New York City AreaCOO @ Led all sales and operations for international media company publishing magazines, books and websites focused on the arts. Full P/L responsibility for company and all products lines of business including Art+Auction, Modern Painters, Gallery Guide, and ARTINFO.com
• Turned company cash flow positive within 6 months by reducing operating costs over 40% through staff restructuring and renegotiation of print production costs and increasing revenues over 35% through better managed print and digital sales efforts.
• International Expansion - Personally planned and executed international expansion project now in over 11 countries (China, UK, France, Australia, etc.) including both English and local language versions including spearheading a joint venture with Yahoo! China on a new Arts & Culture vertical. From 2009 to 2010 (1 year) Greater New York City AreaVice President and General Manager, Online @ Managed full P/L with responsibility for all digital properties, including Observer.com, Very Short List and the Politicker network of political news websites. Had direct responsibility for all strategy, product development, social media, audience development, technology, ad operations, sales, editorial, business development and operations including a staff of 14.
• The New York Observer–http://www.observer.com
Transformed digital news business to embrace a digital-first, continuous publishing model. Managed all
product design and planning, trained and reoriented editorial and sales staff, planned technology infrastructure, implemented marketing programs and forged partnerships to create a vibrant web product with over 200 original stories per week, 2 million unique visitors per month and 400% revenue growth. Nominated for 2009 Webby for Best Newspaper Website. From 2006 to 2009 (3 years) Director Product Planning and Management @ Responsible for strategic planning and product management for all of Rodale’s publishing websites, including: competitive analysis and research, identifying market opportunities, envisioning new products, enhancing existing products, defining product requirements, assessing technology solutions, managing implementation projects, and refining products based upon metrics and results analysis. Drove the implementation of emerging technologies including adoption of social media tools. Served as liaison with MIT Media Lab.
• Men’s Health Magazine–http://www.menshealth.com
Complete redevelopment of technology and user experience which increased page views 200%.
• Women’s Health Magazine–http://www.womenshealthmag.com
Launched in conjunction with the magazine and immediately generated the most engagement (8.9 PPV) of any Rodale site.
• Prevention Magazine–http://www.prevention.com
Managed the migration to a new publishing platform-improving content management, advertising operations, analytics and vastly improving the overall user experience. From 2004 to 2006 (2 years) Greater New York City AreaDirector of Technology @ Managed web strategy, technology and product development for a leading interactive agency. Directly managed a team of solutions strategists, developers, producers, information architects and creative resources. Led product planning, estimation and resource
allocation planning. Served as senior consultant for strategy and development projects for key clients.
Accomplishments include:
• Century 21 Real Estate–http://www.century21.com
Personally managed strategy and development of largest consumer real estate company website
• Procter & Gamble–http://www.tremor.com
Developed highly successful, innovative social network for influencers’ feedback and use of P&G products From 2001 to 2003 (2 years) Web Projects Director @ Responsible for managing all Web projects for agency. Acted as lead consultant for all interactive strategy projects. Developed and instituted web product management discipline and methodology. From 2000 to 2001 (1 year) Director of Web Technologies @ Responsible for all web technology and Internet services for operating companies including strategy, development projects, departmental budget development and accountability, project budgeting, business analysis, user acceptance testing, quality assurance, and research and development on emerging technologies. Interfaced with the operating companies’ IT groups on development projects.
Accomplishments include:
• Developed consolidated corporate web applications strategy for 42 acquired IT solutions companies
• Managed development of an online training program(1999 New Media Invision Award -Best Corporate Training Site)
• Served as interim CTO for 5 months. From 1998 to 2000 (2 years) Internet Services Manager @ Responsible for management of all Internet and intranet services for COMSYS Technology Services. Project management of all outsourced and internal development projects with budget accountability. Served as liaison between Marketing and IT departments.
Accomplishments include:
• Architected and managed all web application development projects including consolidating 16 corporate websites into a full-featured consumer job search application – http://www.comsys.com
• Created 24/7 hosting environment for corporate websites, web applications and intranets From 1996 to 1998 (2 years) Senior Technical Supervisor @ Responsible for daily supervision of Technical Support department. Managed a staff of five technicians. Designed and built: corporate website, CompuServe forum, QA database applications, and beta testing programs. From 1995 to 1996 (1 year)
Columbia University in the City of New YorkRegis High School Brian Kroski is skilled in: Digital Strategy, Digital Media, Content Strategy, New Media, Online Advertising, Digital Marketing, Social Media, SEO, Publishing, Content Management, Social Media Marketing, User Experience, Online Publishing, Mobile Devices, Program Management