Insider Hires Its First Global Head of Sales

The business and culture publisher Insider announced Wednesday morning that it has hired Orlando Reece, an executive at Univision, to serve as its first-ever global head of sales, a new role that reflects a larger internal transformation underway at the company. Reece, who begins Aug. 8, will oversee domestic and international sales at Insider and report directly to chief revenue officer Maggie Milnamow. He will also be responsible for spearheading its expansion into new advertising categories––including retail, auto, CPG and entertainment––a skill set he honed at Univision and hopes to replicate at Insider. “I want us to be fully rounded because we have an audience that doesn’t overlap with other publishers and is buying those products,” Reece said. “And as we grow internationally, I want to break us into more categories.” The appointment coincides with a series of other shifts within Insider, including a string of high-profile hires and the reorganization of its internal sales structure. The moves are designed to refresh its perception among marketers and retool its sales process to better suit its expanding ambitions. Insider has hired Orlando Reece, a Univision executive, to act as its first-ever global head of sales. As sales teams consolidate, Reece will expand into new categories Last February, Insider rebranded from Business Insider in part to signal that its editorial scope had outgrown the technology, business and financial coverage of its roots. It routinely covers subjects such as sports, politics, food and travel, and under Reece the publisher wants its advertising roster to expand to reflect its new breadth. In addition to new beats, Insider has also grown rapidly in headcount and international footprint. It now employs 650 full-time journalists, is published in 6 languages and has opened a bureau in Singapore in the last year, complementing its outpost in London. To cater to larger, global clients, Insider has reorganized its sales infrastructure under the direction of Milnamow, who joined the company in April from The New York Times. Milnamow has made a number of key internal promotions, including naming Chao Liao its senior vice president of revenue operations and data strategy and naming Thaddeus Kromelis senior vice president, head of creative, marketing and studios. She has also consolidated the premium and programmatic sales teams, a decision that caters to marketers’ desire to sign larger deals but with fewer clients. By housing all advertising sales under one division, Insider hopes to streamline the buying process and better showcase its suite of products. “At a time when clients are trying to do more with fewer partners, we needed to figure out new ways to stand out,” Milnamow said. “One of those ways is to be the easiest and best partner to work with.” Why Publishers’ Ad Revenues Skyrocketed Last Year, in 5 Charts To grow brand awareness, Insider plans to further expand its C-suite In addition to hiring Reece, Insider has made a number of marquee personnel moves in the last year. Last July, it promoted Barbara Peng, who has been with Insider since 2015, to the role of president, where she reports to chief executive Henry Blodget. In April it poached Milnamow, and last month it promoted Jess Liebman to the position of chief people officer. The publisher also hopes to make the Insider sales proposition clearer to marketers, as some media buyers still harbor an outdated view of the publisher, Peng said. To help communicate its new identity, Insider plans to hire both a chief brand officer and chief subscription officer in the coming months. “Insider is a powerful news outlet whose brand prestige has really grown a great deal since it was founded 15 years ago,” Peng said. “The challenge for us is to raise awareness of this to much larger audiences." Chief Subscriptions Officers Have a Critical Role to Play in Advertising Efforts

Sales Strategy

Insider Hires Its First Global Head of Sales as Part of a Broader Reorganization

The publisher has consolidated its sales teams to court bigger deals and new categories

Mark Stenberg

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Mark Stenberg