Meredith's Polo named liaison for Hearst, iCrossing

Hearst Integrated Media has named Maureen Polo, managing director of Meredith 360, as its marketing services business development director, where she will serve as the liaison between Hearst Corp. and its digital shop iCrossing, the company announced on Oct. 3.

"Her main role is to introduce and build iCrossing's business with Hearst Magazines' advertising clients," said Jeff Hamill, SVP of advertising sales and marketing at Hearst Magazines, publisher of brands including Good Housekeeping, Esquire and O, The Oprah Magazine. "iCrossing is a very large agency on its own. They have their own business development team that's growing quickly. They have expertise in search, social, Web development, and those are all things we would like to offer our best advertising customers as part of our portfolio."

Polo's experience, he added, "is perfect for this role. She's done a lot of international marketing, has experience working with larger clients, understands both print and digital, and is a real business development pro."

Polo assumes her new position on Oct. 12 and will report directly to Hamill. Prior to running Meredith Corp.'s strategic marketing group, she was VP of integrated sales and marketing at The Reader's Digest Association and a sales director at Condé Nast Publications.

Hearst acquired iCrossing in 2010. Since then, it has expanded its footprint across Europe and Latin America, most recently with the acquisition of São Paulo-based agency Wallaby Group.