Execs & Accounts for April 2, 2007

GM Planworks hired Dr. Michael Vinson as SVP, managing director. GM Planworks is the dedicated media planning, buying and research unit for General Motors Corp. and a division of Starcom MediaVest Group. It hired Vinson away from his position as chief research scientist at erinMedia.

Tacoda hired an EVP of product management and development. The behaviorally-targeted online advertising network hired Daniel Jaye as executive vice president, product management and development. Jaye is the former co-founder and chief technology officer of Engage.

In other Tacoda news, the firm has installed Rapt’s Inventory Manager and Business Advisor system. Rapt’s platform will help Tacoda improve monetization of inventory, the companies said.

Six Apart selected Omniture to optimize and track user experience on its blogging platforms. Those platforms include Vox, LiveJournal, and TypePad.

FunkySexyCool selected Bango to power its mobile Web presence. FunkySexyCool is a mobile social networking community.

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association elected Sam Decker to its board of directors. Decker is vice president of marketing and products for Bazaarvoice.

USA TODAY named Susan Lavington as senior vice president of marketing. Lavington was formerly vice president of consumer marketing for USA TODAY, and will oversee all marketing efforts for the USA TODAY brand.

Harris Interactive acquired MediaTransfer AG. The market research firm purchased the private European online research firm based in Hamburg, Germany for approximately $12 million.