Trio of exec appointments for FreeWheel

L-R: Katy Loria; Chris Rouser; Michael Lawlor

Comcast-owned adtech company FreeWheel has announced a trio of senior appointments, including Katy Loria as US chief revenue officer, Michael Lawlor as chief operations and service officer, and Chris Rouser as head of human resources.

The trio will be based in New York and serve as key members of FreeWheel’s executive leadership team.

Loria joins from Screenvision Media and previously led national sales at ViacomCBS. She is charged with growing both the sell and buy sides of FreeWheel’s marketplace, while defining and maintaining the revenue strategy through architecting and integrating revenue streams and designing and launching new revenue programmes.

Lawlor meanwhile is receiving a promotion after spending more than seven years at FreeWheel in a number of leadership roles including overseeing advisory services and most recently as head of US commercial and marketplace operations. As chief operations and service officer, Lawlor is charged with centralising all advertising and service-leven operations. 

The final appointment, Rouser, joined FreeWheel parent company Comcast in 2013, where he most recently served as vice president of human resources for Comcast’s Keystone Region. He will oversee the company’s human resources business partners and work closely with business leaders to attract and retain talent from the technology sector. 

Rouser will report to Tracey Kopper-Hourin, SVP of human resources and customer experience for Comcast Advertising, while Loria and Lawlor will report to Mark McKee, general manager, FreeWheel, who said: “With a host of new streaming options and subscription models, the TV advertising industry is at an inflection point and in need of simplicity, efficiency, and scale. We are excited to have Katy, Michael, and Chris lead and further the company’s focus on connecting this new TV ecosystem to enable its addressable and programmatic future.

“These industry leaders are excellent candidates for their respective roles: Katy, with her tremendous sales presence, focus on the customer, and solutions-oriented approach to sales; Michael, with his operational excellence-driven leadership and strategic customer-first approach to the business; and Chris, with his conviction that creating a great culture brings the talent and experience to help companies succeed.”