Execs & Accounts for January 11, 2006

Digital media consultant Susan Mernit has joined Yahoo as senior director, leading the personals product team. She’ll report to General Manager Anna Zornosa, formerly chief marketing officer at Knight Ridder Digital.

Interactive design agency ID Society designed a new e-commerce presence for Giorgio Armani. The site consolidates the Armani brand’s full collection of fragrances and cosmetics.

Video ad network Instream, recently launched by Lightningcast, hired Bill Jennings as chief revenue officer. Jennings was VP of new media and business development at A&E Networks.

The company also hired Chris Coda, formerly of Weatherbug, to lead Southeastern/Mid-Atlantic sales and Steve Crane, formerly of Adweek and Engage Media, to work in Midwestern sales.

Siegel & Gale hired Matt Wahn as director of interactive media in its New York office. Wahn was a VP and practice leader at Hill and Knowlton, New York, where he created interactive work for ATA Airlines, Benjamin Moore, Clarinol, and Sankyo Pharma.

MoreVisibility promoted Danielle Leitch to EVP of client strategy. She joined the company in 2003 as marketing manager and later became VP of marketing and analytics.

Digitas named Chicago Managing Director Torrence Boone to be president of its Boston operation. Earlier, Boone was VP and general manager at Avenue A.

Pheedo hired Arnon Moscona as VP of engineering. Arnon was director of engineering at shopping comparison site NexTag.

Squidoo tapped ExactTarget to handle email communications to its “lensmaster” community of content creators. Squidoo is the brainchild of lecturer and author Seth Godin.

WebTrends picked up some work. Internet Broadcasting will use the company’s On Demand product to handle analytics across its 73 sites. NBC Olympics re-signed with WebTrends to optimize traffic on NBCOlympics.com.

Silverpop named Court Cunningham and Thomas Smith to its board. Cunningham spent five years as SVP of marketing automation at DoubleClick. Smith was VP of small and medium business for IBM Americas.

Reply! hired Robert Purcell as EVP of marketing. Purcell was SVP of marketing at E-Loan and VP of product marketing for Dunkin’ Donuts.

Empower MediaMarketing won media planning duties for Red Robin Gourmet Burgers. The client is a casual dining restaurant chain based in Greenwood Village, Colorado.