Execs & Accounts for April 27, 2005

Yahoo hired Shawn Hardin as VP of content operations in its media group. Hardin will join on May 2 and be based in Santa Monica, Calif. The hire follows the appointment of Scott Moore to a similar role.

Hardin was senior VP of broadband at America Online, leading development for the AOL for Broadband service and other broadband advertising. Earlier he spent seven years with NBC, including a stint as chief product officer and group general manager for NBC Internet.

Dow Jones & Company extended its use of behavioral targeting capabilities from Revenue Science to include MarketWatch, which it acquired recently. Oracle is the first major advertiser to use the interest-based targeting offering across Dow Jones Online.

Revenue Science, meanwhile, added Scott Greenberg to its business development team in New York. He’ll focus on partnerships between the behavioral targeting firm and its publisher clients. Greenberg was VP of sales channel partnerships at WhenU.

The Advertising Research Foundation named four new board directors. They include Steven Fredericks, President and CEO of TNS Media Intelligence; MSN Director of Media Research Stephen Kim; aQuantive President and CEO Brian McAndrews; and Jessica Pantanini, Bromley Communications’ COO.

Fastclick appointed John Pleasants, president and chief executive of Ticketmaster, to its board. Pleasants earlier was president of information services at InterActive Corp.

A&E Networks tapped Lightningcast to manage and deliver video ads on the Web properties of its three channels: A&E, The History Channel and Biography. Lightningcast’s technology is a hosted ad management solution.

Critical Mention, a Web-based TV search and monitoring service, struck a deal with MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. Under the terms of the relationship, the PBS producers will get a fee based on use of NewsHour clips in the search offering.

Jumpstart Digital Marketing hired Chad Beasley as VP of sales and creative development, a new position. He’ll be responsible for West Coast sales efforts.

Vendare Media named Linda Fayne Levinson to its board. Levinson is a venture capital and private equity investor.

TruEffect, an ad serving and measurement firm, hired Ari Kaufman as VP of sales. Kaufman was head of Internet operations for Zacks.com.

PhotoChannel Networks tapped EmailLabs to support an email marketing offering for its business customers. Client deployments will include Wal-Mart Canada and Blacks Photo Corporation.