Google Consolidates Agency Relations Under Penry Price

In the latest in a string of big changes to its sales structure, Google has consolidated its agency relations efforts under a single exec and revamped its U.S. teams to focus more tightly on industry verticals.

Google promoted North American sales VP Penry Price to head up global agency and industry relations. In the newly created role, he’ll oversee an agency team that already existed in the U.S. and Europe, but previously reported up separately through sales teams in those regions. A spokesperson said the change was made because so many agencies have an international presence.

“It makes more sense to report as one team,” she said.

Meanwhile Google has done away with its regional reporting channels in the United States. Jim Lecinski, previous head of the Eastern region, now oversees CPG sales. Bonita Stewart, former automotive director, has added financial services, media, travel, and entertainment sales to her plate. And John McAteer, previously in charge of retail, now has oversight of tech industry sales as well.

Google is eliminating approximately six positions as part of the restructuring, a spokesperson said.

Price joined Google in 2004 as Eastern region sales director. Before that, he held sales leadership positions with Us Weekly and Rolling Stone.

In addition to overseeing agency relations, he will now manage the company’s involvement with industry trade groups, including the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, and others.

It’s been a tumultuous spring for Google’s sales group, which had to replace its top two executives in the space of about six weeks as global sales chief Omid Kordestani moved to an advisory position and North American honcho Tim Armstrong left for AOL. They are succeeded, respectively, by international operations president Nikesh Arora and British Isles sales exec Dennis Woodside.