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David Pemsel The Guardian Guardian Media Group

The Guardian owner names former commercial boss David Pemsel as CEO

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By Seb Joseph, News editor

June 18, 2015 | 3 min read

The Guardian Media Group (GMG), the owner of The Guardian newspaper, is to appoint former chief commercial officer David Pemsel to the role of chief executive officer.

Pemsel, who was promoted to deputy chief executive in 2013, is expected to become the commercial head of the business today (18 June), according to The Guardian. Sky News reported that the former marketer beat an unidentified UK-based Google executive to the role following a board meeting earlier this week.

He takes over from Andrew Miller, who announced he would leave the business at the end of June after five years. Miller helped secure the financial future of the media owner, which included the expansion of its digital media offering.

Pemsel's promotion to the top of GMG will see him work closely with the broadsheet’s editor Katharine Viner, who replaced Alan Rusbridger last month.

Pemsel joined GMG in 2011 as chief marketing officer before he became the chief commercial officer a year after and then the deputy chief executive in 2013.

He oversaw several key initiatives to monetise its content such as its first paid-for membership scheme and most recently the revamp of the newspaper’s online site.

Under Pemsel’s commercial leadership, the newspaper can expect upcoming developments on the advertising side to continue on the path he has helped steer it down over the last two years, particularly when it comes to premiumising its content amid the rise of native advertising and the impact of programmatic trading on ad rates.

The developments have helped spearhead the Guardian’s commercial offering, which most recently pushed revenue up three per cent to £215m for the year to March. Underlying losses were flat in the period at £20m.

Prior to GMG, Pemsel was marketing director at ITV and managing partner at advertising agency St Luke’s.

David Pemsel The Guardian Guardian Media Group

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