Hearst Newspapers Digital announces senior executive hires

Hearst Newspapers Digital has announced the appointments of former New York Times executive Fergal Carr to the new position of senior vice president of consumer product, and former Tribune Publishing vice president Esfand Pourmand to senior vice president of revenue.

The announcement was made by Hearst Newspapers President Mark Aldam and Hearst Newspapers Digital President Robertson Barrett. Both Carr and Pourmand will be based in New York and will report to Barrett.

Hearst Newspapers Digital also has promoted Karen Brophy to senior vice president of strategy and operations. In her new role, she will oversee daily operations and major growth initiatives, including integration of ecommerce and video into the newspaper properties.

"These new hires signify the ongoing transformation happening across our local media markets at Hearst Newspapers," Aldam said. "We have dramatic opportunities in local media and have incredibly strong brands that reach 92 million people. During each of the past four years, Hearst Newspapers has grown earnings, largely the result of strong digital audience and revenue growth. Rob's new leadership team will help us evolve our web and mobile properties into a robust portfolio of diversified subscription and free digital businesses."

Carr will be responsible for moving Hearst Newspapers forward with rapid digital innovation in user experience, immersive advertising and distributed content and products.

He is joining Hearst after a decade-long tenure at The New York Times, where he was instrumental in developing first-to-market advertising initiatives for mobile, tablet and desktop platforms. Most recently as senior director of technology, T Brand Studio, Carr developed a responsive native advertising platform and directed the launch of more than 150 paid posts for Fortune 100 brands. Previously, Carr served as director of Ad Platform Innovation/Idea Lab, and director of ad operations technology. He received a bachelor's of science in interactive multimedia design from Ulster University in Ireland.

"Fergal is a true thought leader in digital media product development and digital advertising," Barrett said. "With his creative focus, he will work on cross-pollinating the technology on the editorial and advertising sides, ultimately bringing the best in content to our users. Fergal will be an outstanding addition to our leadership team."

Carr said, "The next evolution of digital publishing will occur by pairing intuitive and elegant interfaces with engaging advertising products, enhanced by user data. I look forward to spearheading this initiative, and to advancing the consumer experience across the full spectrum of Hearst Newspapers properties."

As SVP of revenue, Pourmand will work to grow Hearst Newspapers' portfolio of digital subscription products, developing new revenue-focused products, and expanding Hearst's leadership in data-driven product development and digital marketing.

Prior to his appointment at Hearst, Pourmand served as vice president of product management, consumer revenue for Tribune Publishing. Previously he worked at The New York Times as executive director, head of project management, and program director, subscription revenue/NYT beta/continuous delivery. He received a bachelor's of science from State University of New York at Stony Brook, and a master's of science, information systems, from Long Island University.

"Esfand has been at the center of one of the biggest digital subscription initiatives in the world," Barrett said. "We are excited to gain his leadership and expertise in building a major new business for Hearst in targeted and subscription products. Just as important, he will help drive a data-first culture at Hearst Newspapers."

Said Pourmand, "I am honored and thrilled to be joining the Hearst Newspapers Digital team. We are well positioned to leverage technology, build data-driven products, and bring a fresh perspective to product development with the goal of delivering the maximum value to our local media markets and businesses."