NBCUniversal hires ex-Roku exec Alison Levin as president, advertising and partnerships

Alison Levin (NBCUniversal)

NBCUniversal has recruited former Roku exec Alison Levin as president of advertising and partnerships.

Levin joins the company next month and will report to newly appointed advertising and partnerships global chairman Mark Marshal.

The exec will oversee all advertising sales initiatives for NBCUniversal across national, local, SMB Growth, Peacock, sports and Olympic and Paralympic Sales. She will also help shape and carry out the division’s new audience-focused sales strategy.

Levin was mostly recently vice president of global ad revenue and marketing solutions at Roku. At the company she led the new product and go-to-market strategy for the company’s advertising business, including the TV streaming division. Prior to Roku, she was a sales executive with YuMe, managing key accounts for its ad tech business, and has held sales positions with IAC and BusinessWeek.

NBCUniversal has also promoted EVP of client partnerships Karen Kovacs to president of client partnerships. She will report into Marshall and lead all new and emerging client relationships, with oversight of the company’s national offices. In this newly expanded position, Kovacs and her team will work across NBCUniversal to develop partnerships with CMOs throughout the industry.

“Alison is extremely well-respected across the advertising ecosystem for her focus on partnership as well as her innovative leadership in the Connected TV and digital ad space. As a pioneer of the shift to data-driven selling, Alison brought instrumental value to the marketplace at large, and I have no doubt her acumen and experience will bring incredible value to our team. Karen Kovacs has been essential in the collaboration and growth of our enterprise partnerships with clients, and I could not be more thrilled to have these two talented executives join our broader leadership team in advancing our division forward,” said Marshall.