Clear Channel appoints The Guardian's Pelekanou to top commercial role

By Nick Batten, mediaweek.co.uk, Wednesday, 19 September 2012 11:30AM

Clear Channel has appointed Guardian News and Media (GNM) global commercial director Chris Pelekanou to the newly created role of commercial director.

Chris Pelekanou: to join Clear Channel as commercial director

Pelekanou will join Clear Channel in December and will report to chief executive Matthew Dearden. His move was announced as part of a shake-up at GNM includes the departure of Adam Freeman and installs David Pemsel as chief commercial officer.

At Clear Channel Pelekanou will oversee sales, marketing, and product management functions.

The top commercial role at Clear Channel has been vacant since Steve Atkinson, group sales director, left in November last year.

Pelekanou joins Clear Channel from GNM, where, over the past 20 years, he has held a number of senior sales leadership roles in the UK, including deputy advertising director and commercial director.

Most recently, he was promoted to global commercial director, tasked with setting up and leading a commercial operation in New York.

Dearden said: "Chris brings with him an impressive track record of leading successful commercial organisations. I am confident that his first-hand experience in helping a business develop its proposition to match the needs of an evolving audience in a modern media landscape will help us achieve our ambitions to do that."

Pelekanou said: "Outdoor has always been an incredibly powerful and interesting medium and now more than ever. With digital screens and location-based advertising becoming a reality, the possibilities are endless. Clear Channel, with its great offering and talented people, is in the right place to take full advantage of this. I am tremendously excited about the opportunities and challenges ahead."

Additionally, within the commercial division, Richard Bon is promoted to the new post of trading and portfolio director.

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk