Coleman was the president of ad tech company Criteo. Before that, he was president of The Huffington Post.
Coleman has had a very successful career in digital media and advertising. He took Criteo public last year. He also helped grow Yahoo's ad sales from $600 million per year to $6 billion per year.
Eventually, Coleman landed in The Huffington Post's ad sales unit and built the team up prior to the company's $315 million sale to AOL.
Steinberg, Coleman's predecessor, surprised many in the media world when he stepped down as BuzzFeed's president in May. According to a story from Business Insider's Alyson Shontell, Steinberg wanted to sell BuzzFeed, but BuzzFeed's CEO Jonah Peretti did not.
Here's the announcement:
BuzzFeed, Inc announced today that digital business veteran and former President of Criteo and Huffington Post Greg Coleman will join the company as President. As President, he will be responsible for the management and growth of all facets of the business including sales, creative services, marketing, ad products and business development. He will expand the business globally and integrate BuzzFeed's social, mobile and video offerings to brands worldwide. He will also hold a seat on the the Board of Directors. Coleman brings more than three decades of experience in digital sales, advertising tech and media and is one of the industry's foremost pioneers as an early business executive at Yahoo!, Huffington Post, AOL and most recently ad tech company Criteo.
"Social, content-driven advertising has really come of age in the last three years, and Greg joining us validates that enormous shift. Greg helped transform industries at Huffington Post and Criteo and now will scale social advertising globally as it becomes an essential part of every major brand's marketing strategy. I'm also thrilled because it brings Greg, Ken Lerer and me all under the same roof again," said Peretti.
"There is no greater story in the industry than of BuzzFeed and social advertising. It's still early days in social and I'm so excited to join the talented team at BuzzFeed whose work has drastically changed the industry over the last three years. BuzzFeed has always been like family to me and I'm so thrilled I can now call it home," said Coleman.
Andy Wiedlin will continue as Chief Revenue Officer leading BuzzFeed's exemplary sales team. Coleman will be based in New York, will report to Peretti and starts this week.
About Greg:
Greg Coleman previously served as President of Criteo, a global advertising technology and software company, and has held executive positions in many of the world's most influential technology companies. He was formerly the president and Chief Revenue Officer at the Huffington Post and the EVP of global sales at Yahoo. He also served as President of Platform-A at AOL from February to April of 2009. Coleman was previously senior vice president of Reader's Digest Association and president of U.S. Magazine Publishing. Previously, at CBS, Inc., he spent 10 years leading advertising efforts for Woman's Day as vice president and national sales manager. Coleman holds a B.S. degree in business administration from Georgetown University and attended the M.B.A. program at New York University. Coleman is also an adjunct professor at NYU Stern School of Business teaching a class on Digital Media Innovation.