TW Vet Named AOL President

Following fast on the heels of last week’s replacement of Chairman and CEO Jon Miller with NBC vet Randy Falco, Time Warner has tapped an internal candidate to join Falco’s team.

“With his deep knowledge of the AOL business and Internet industry as well as his many relationships across Time Warner, Ron will be critical to our efforts to execute against AOL’s new strategy,” Falco said in a statement. “I look forward to working with Ron and our talented AOL colleagues to tackle the tough issues ahead and make the most of our many opportunities.”

Ron Grant, an AOL veteran who most recently served as Time Warner’s SVP of operations, has been appointed to the newly created positions of president and COO of AOL. In his previous role, Grant worked closely with Time Warner president and COO Jeff Bewkes, and played an important role in AOL’s ad-focused strategy, according to Bewkes.

Before assuming his role at Time Warner, Grant had been SVP of business affairs at AOL, managing a team responsible for business development. Prior to AOL, Grant was a partner with a management consulting firm, focusing on communications and media.

Falco took over AOL’s reins last week in a surprise move that saw Jon Miller lose his job in the midst of a major overhaul that many credit him with leading. In the shift from subscription-based access business to ad-supported media company, Miller led the way with plans for a major reorganization of the company.

With Miller gone, and Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis on his way out, AOL appears to be cleaning house as part of its transformation. Following Miller’s departure, Jason Calacanis, erstwhile CEO of blog network Weblogs Inc. and general manager of Netscape, announced his plans to resign from AOL as well.