Kevin Hunter has been named president and CEO at St. Petersburg, Florida-based Catalina, effective immediately. He also will serve on the company’s board of directors.
A six-year veteran of the company, Hunter had been serving in this role on an interim basis for the past three months. Previously, he was chief commercial officer and head of innovation.
Since joining Catalina in 2017 as VP of digital and consumer products, Hunter has helped drive the evolution of the company’s Omnichannel Managed Media Services portfolio to provide some of the brands and retailers with full-funnel marketing solutions. Having pioneered the first 1:1 personalized in-store media channel 40 years ago with technology that provided value-driven coupons at check-out, Catalina’s diversification enables it to target, deliver and measure personalized advertising and promotional messages across in-store, Connected TV, out of home and digital media channels.
“Kevin’s deep knowledge of Catalina’s business and differentiated data-driven portfolio of offerings, as well as his understanding of ever-evolving consumer and market trends, make him an excellent choice to lead the company,” said Mike Iaccarino, chairman of the board of directors.
“Over the last six years, Kevin helped build a commercial organization focused on innovation and collaboration, and he’s been instrumental in completing the company’s omnichannel transformation. Today, Kevin and team are focused on delivering strong results for Catalina’s retail, brand and agency partners by helping them maximize consumer relationships, personalize shopping experiences and, most importantly, drive growth.”
Hunter succeeds Wayne Powers, who assumed the top leadership role at Catalina in October 2019. Powers left the company in early August to pursue new opportunities.
“I am humbled and excited by the opportunity to lead Catalina in a broader way. As we celebrate the company’s 40th anniversary, it is an opportune moment to reflect on our remarkable journey and the transformation we’ve achieved,” Hunter said.
“It started with delivering value for shoppers inside a retailer’s four walls, and now we are helping our clients across the U.S. and Europe reach shoppers – and measurably impact purchasing behavior – wherever they may be. We have a differentiated set of capabilities, a knowledgeable go-to-market team focused on meeting our clients’ needs and talented cross-functional teams focused on further advancing our AI-enabled data science capabilities, including advanced personalization, across our portfolio of full funnel marketing solutions.”
Earlier in Hunter’s 25-year career, he held several senior leadership positions, including president, head of Americas, corporate development and product strategy for Walkbase; president of inMarket; co-founder and COO of Gimbal; and occupying various senior roles with Qualcomm, such as head of strategy and product for the retail solutions division, global marketing development and product management for Qualcomm Labs, among others. He is the co-inventor of more than 50 U.S. granted and pending patents.
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