David Kenny (executive)

David Kenny
David Kenny in 2017
David Kenny in 2017
Born1961
Lansing, Michigan
EducationKettering University
Harvard Business School (MBA)
OccupationBusinessman
Known forformer CEO of The Weather Channel, former CEO of Nielsen Company
TitleExecutive chairmain, Nielsen

David Kenny is an American businessman and the former CEO of Nielsen Holdings. He was formerly the CEO of The Weather Company and senior vice president of IBM's Watson & Cloud platform.

Early life and education

Kenny was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1961.[1] He earned a bachelor's degree from Kettering University (then the General Motors Institute) in 1984 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1986.[2][1]

Career

Kenny worked as a consultant at Bain & Company between 1987 and 1997.[1] In 1997 he became the CEO of Digitas, leading the company through an initial public offering in 2000 and its acquisition by Publicis Groupe in 2007.[3][4] He was the president of Akamai Technologies and resigned from this position on October 26, 2011.[5][6]

In January 2012, Kenny replaced Mike Kelly as CEO of The Weather Company and served as chairman of the board.[7][8] When The Weather Company was acquired by IBM in 2016, Kenny became the senior Vice President of IBM's Watson & Cloud platform.[9]

Kenny joined Nielsen as CEO in December 2018. In September 2023, he was succeeded by Karthik Rao and assumed the role of executive chairman.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c Vanham, Peter (2017). Before I Was CEO (PDF). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 9781119278085. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  2. ^ Spangler, Todd (November 20, 2018). "Nielsen Names IBM Exec David Kenny CEO". Variety. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  3. ^ Hennessey, Raymond (March 14, 2000). "Digitas Shares Move Higher After Initial Public Offering". WSJ. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  4. ^ Pfanner, Eric (December 20, 2006). "Publicis buys Digitas, an online marketer, for $1.3 million". The New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  5. ^ Facts & Figures. Akamai.com. Retrieved on March 24, 2017.
  6. ^ Ovide, Shira (October 26, 2011). "Is This Man Campaigning for the Yahoo CEO Job?". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  7. ^ Vranica, Suzanne; Schechner, Sam (January 25, 2012). "Weather Channel Taps Digital Expert as CEO". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  8. ^ Newsroom | The Weather Company. Press.weather.com. Retrieved on March 24, 2017.
  9. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (January 29, 2016). "IBM Closes Weather Co. Purchase, Names David Kenny New Head Of Watson Platform". TechCrunch.
  10. ^ Cobb, Kayla (September 14, 2023). "Nielsen CEO David Kenny Exits, Karthik Rao Promoted". TheWrap. Retrieved January 19, 2024.