Sat Jul 25

VivaKi Names Paul Darling CFO

Written by Pitch Engine

Chicago – July 23, 2015 – VivaKi, the ad tech solutions company owned by Publicis Groupe, announced that Paul Darling has joined the agency as Chief Financial Officer. In this role, he will be responsible for all financial and fiscal management of company operations and have oversight of administrative, business planning, accounting and budgeting efforts. He will have a dual reporting structure and report to Stephan Beringer, CEO of the VivaKi Operating System (VOS), and Simon Pardon, CEO of the VivaKi Exchange (VX).

Darling comes to VivaKi with over 20 years of experience. During his career, he’s managed the financial portfolio and responsibilities for advertising agencies, market research entities and digital/tech companies.

“Having reorganized VivaKi to move programmatic activation closer to the strategic planning process inside the agencies, we are now moving beyond the trading desk focus to drive new, data-driven products and solutions,” said Beringer. “Paul’s vast experience makes him the perfect partner for the next chapter of our transformation.”

Prior to joining VivaKi, Darling held roles at major market research organizations such as Ipsos and Millward Brown and spent a good portion of his career working in various international finance roles for Aegis Group PLC, including Group Controller and European Finance Director. He was most recently EVP of Finance for Leapfrog Online, a leading digital marketing services company that analyzes real-time intelligence and predicts growth opportunities for clients, such as Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Terminix and DeVry University, to name a few. During his time there, he restructured and upgraded the financial team and implemented new financial and reporting systems, processes and practices. He also developed meaningful key performance indicators that helped the company map to more strategic financial and operational insights, allowing for further growth and success.

He will replace former EVP of Global Finance Jim Collins, who recently moved to a new role at sister agency Leo Burnett.

Authors: Pitch Engine