Whitticom, Who Joins from WPP’s GroupM, Will Lead FreeWheel’s Product Strategy, Management, Design and Development

FreeWheel, A Comcast Company, announced that it has appointed Jon Whitticom as chief product officer. In this role, Whitticom will oversee and define FreeWheel’s product vision, strategy, design and development. He will also lead FreeWheel’s global product team, ensuring that the company continues to pioneer and innovate new solutions and offerings that meet the needs of clients and propel the industry forward.

“He brings a unique blend of product management, subject matter expertise and proven credentials as a trusted, visionary leader. He also shares our conviction about the future of the video ecosystem and we’re very excited to welcome him into the FreeWheel family.”

Whitticom, who joins the company’s executive management team, will also represent FreeWheel’s product discipline to senior clients, industry organizations and partners. He joins the organization this week and reports to FreeWheel General Manager Dave Clark.

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He comes to FreeWheel from WPP’s GroupM, where he was most recently executive vice president of products for [m]Platform, a media planning, data analytics and digital services technology suite. In that role, he led product teams responsible for developing data management and marketing planning and trading platforms, in addition to creating partnerships with tech companies, to drive growth for GroupM and its clients.

“Jon is the right product leader to drive FreeWheel’s next phase of growth,” Clark said. “He brings a unique blend of product management, subject matter expertise and proven credentials as a trusted, visionary leader. He also shares our conviction about the future of the video ecosystem and we’re very excited to welcome him into the FreeWheel family.”

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“FreeWheel’s track record of removing friction from the video marketplace and empowering publishers to better monetize content while also helping advertisers to more effectively engage consumers puts it in a unique position to address the industry’s needs,” Whitticom said. “I’m excited to work with Dave and the FreeWheel team to address advertisers’ demand for access to premium video and more sophisticated, data-driven TV activation capabilities.”

Whitticom joined GroupM from another WPP sibling: Xaxis. As VP, global product development, he was responsible for driving Xaxis’s global data management strategy and leading the creation of its DMP and analytics platforms. Whitticom also brings substantial experience from his time in consulting, start-ups, e-commerce and financial services. He has launched several start-ups, including a digital marketing and e-commerce platform, called Charity Folks, that attracted notable clients such as Paul McCartney, Angelina Jolie, The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Warren Buffet and Bruce Springsteen. He was also one of the original members of grocery e-tailer Webvan. There, he helped execute the business plan that ultimately resulted in one of the largest e-commerce IPOs in U.S. history.

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