Malcolm Netburn has been named chairman/CEO of Communications Data Services Inc., an international data management firm that provides customized fulfillment services to publishers and direct marketers.
John P. Loughlin, executive vice president and general manager of Hearst Magazines, a unit of New York-based Hearst Corp., made the announcement.
“CDS has an opportunity to be a visionary company serving as an essential and strategic partner with its clients,” Mr. Netburn said.
CDS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hearst and employs 3,000 people worldwide. It manages 150 million names of active subscribers for 400 magazine and product fulfillment clients in the direct-to-consumer and business-to-business markets.
Mr. Netburn, who starts Feb. 5 and will report to Mr. Loughlin, said his top goal for 2007 “is to develop a company strategy … consistent with clients’ needs and with the fast-changing conditions of the industry, and then to communicate that need to employees, clients and our industry.”
An industry trend Mr. Netburn will watch is digital expression of traditional activities, “which has moved to the mainstream, and we will be tracking where it is going. This will include how the community-building aspects of social networks are working their way into businesses.”
Another trend, he said, is the integration of digital audiences and advertising as the industry approaches true one-to-one relationships.
“Data and information will drive decision making more than ever, and we will be at the forefront of that trend,” he said. “And we will continue to track the ability to be truly global as the Internet has broken through many barriers.”
Mr. Netburn brings more than 25 years of consulting experience in magazines, newspapers, books and media companies, particularly involving publishing strategy, business planning, technology and database utilization, and digital media development. He has worked with media firms including Crain Communications, Hearst, Lebhar-Friedman and Rogers Business Publications. Mr. Netburn was a founding partner in 1986 of Netburn McGill, a New York-based consulting firm serving media and publishing companies.
Previously, Mr. Netburn served as president/CEO of Chemical Week Associates and Hart Publications, a Veronis Suhler Stevenson fund company. Prior to that, he was publisher and senior vice president of the Christian Science Monitor and operations director for the National Wildlife Federation’s publishing unit.
On behalf of clients, CDS prepared and/or processed almost 1 billion pieces of traditional and electronic mail in 2006. CDS Direct Mail Services managed 300 million names. CDS Xpress Moves, a publisher-combined change-of-address database, contains millions of names.
Netburn named CDS chairman/CEO
