The Board of Directors of Nielsen Holdings has appointed David Kenny Chief Executive Officer. He will join from December 3, 2018. David will also join Nielsen's Board of Directors. He joins Nielsen from IBM, where he led IBM's Cognitive Solutions business.  

James Attwood, Executive Chairman of Nielsen. "His decades of experience in Big Data, artificial intelligence, cloud technologies, and media make him perfectly suited to lead Nielsen at this critical time. Having spent a substantial portion of his career working in the advertising world, he has a deep and holistic understanding of advertisers and how best to serve them, and he has a proven track record of implementing growth strategies, overseeing strategic transactions and creating value for stakeholders.”

"Nielsen is uniquely placed at the intersection of marketing data and technology. In today's era of fast moving, ever changing consumers and markets, it is this combination that drives businesses forward," explained Kenny. "I'm thrilled to join this industry-leading company at this point in time when so much is possible."

Most recently, Kenny served as Senior Vice President of Cognitive Solutions at IBM, where he led IBM's AI platform and portfolio. Previously, Kenny was Chairman and Chief Executive of The Weather Company, joining IBM after their acquisition of The Weather Company's Product and Technology Business.

He previously was President of cloud service provider Akamai and served as Co-Managing Partner at Publicis' VivaKi. He also co-founded and served as Chairman and CEO of digital marketing agency Digitas continuing to lead the company after overseeing its sale to Publicis Groupe. Prior to Digitas, he was a Partner at Bain & Company.

Kenny succeeds Mitch Barns who, as previously announced, is retiring from the company on December 31 after 22 years. The Board thanks him for his dedicated service and leadership.

Kenny serves on the Board of Directors of Best Buy and Teach for America. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's degree from the GM Institute (now Kettering University). 

Pic Source- WSJ