AOL Names Mark Pinney as Head of Business Planning for Platform A

New York, NY .– AOL today announced that Mark Pinney will head business planning for the company’s Platform A advertising division, focusing primarily on integrating Platform A’s assets. Formerly Chief Financial Officer and Chief Privacy Officer at TACODA, Pinney will report directly to Curt Viebranz, EVP of AOL and President of Platform A.



“I’ve known Mark for more than 20 years, and worked with him to grow TACODA over the past four,” said Viebranz. “Mark has an outstanding track record, strong financial and analytic skills, and I’m delighted to work with him as we build Platform A.”



“This is an exciting opportunity” said Pinney. “AOL has assembled a comprehensive suite of world-class assets, and I look forward to working with Curt and the rest of the Platform A team to bring these together to serve advertisers.”



AOL announced the formation of Platform A two weeks ago. The organization will offer advertisers access to the most sophisticated targeting and measurement tools available in the marketplace across Platform A’s unmatched network of third-party sites, as well as AOL’s owned and operated sites. Platform A already reaches more than 90% of the domestic online audience, according to comScore Media Metrix. Platform A includes Advertising.com and Brand Solutions, as well as recent AOL acquisitions TACODA, Third Screen Media, Lightningcast, and ADTECH.



Pinney is a seasoned financial executive and entrepreneur. Prior to TACODA, Pinney was Chief Financial Officer and Director of Acorda Therapeutics, a biotech company that went public in 2006. Before this, he was Chairman of CanDo, an Internet company offering products and services to people with disabilities, and co-founder and CEO of LifeWire, a predecessor company to CanDo.



In 1995, Pinney co-founded Real Media, an Internet advertising software and services firm that merged to form 24/7 Real Media in 2001. Earlier, Pinney worked on Wall Street and in management consulting. Pinney is a Chartered Financial Analyst; he has a degree in engineering from the University of Exeter, England, a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Columbia University, and an MBA from the University of Chicago.