DoubleClick Brings Ryan Upstairs, Makes O'Connor Chairman

Internet advertising company DoubleClick Inc. Tuesday promoted President and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Ryan to chief executive officer while current CEO Kevin O’Connor stays in the chairman’s seat.

In his new role, Ryan will run the day-to-day operations of the company while O’Connor will continue to focus on new market development and long term strategic planning.

The move isn’t a big surprise to watchers of DoubleClick. Over the last year, Ryan has assumed many of the duties of chief executive officer. He runs the day-to-day operations of the organization, the business heads report directly to him and has all profit and loss responsibilities. At the same time, O’Connor has been primarily working on product development and long-term strategic planning.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for me to continue to lead DoubleClick as we expand our business even further worldwide, enlarge our market share here in the U.S. and become profitable,” Ryan said.

Ryan has been with DoubleClick since 1996 when he joined as chief financial officer. Prior to joining the firm, he was the senior vice president of business and finance at United Media where he launched the Dilbert Zone. Before joining United Media, Ryan worked for Euro Disney in France, and as an investment banker with Prudential Investment Corporation in the US and the UK. Ryan graduated from Yale University and INSEAD business school in France.