People

AKAMAI

Tom Leighton was named CEO of Akamai Technologies He was chief scientist and is a co-founder of the company.

Also, Robert (Bob) Hughes will become Akamai’s president, worldwide operations and Rick McConnell will be president, products and development.

AOL

Erika Nardini has joined AOL as vice president, head of marketing solutions for AOL Advertising, based in New York. She was senior VP, sales and marketing at Demand Media.

BERMANBRAUN

Jeff Berman has joined production studio BermanBraun as president. He comes from the National Football League, where he was general manager of digital media.

COMCAST

Public-policy executive Joe Waz will return to Comcast as a senior strategic adviser in public policy and external aff airs. He had retired from the MSO in 2011.

CSN CHICAGO

Comcast SportsNet Chicago has named Kevin Cross as news director. He had been assistant news director at the regional sports network.

INSIGHT STRATEGY

Tiffany Aguilar and Paige Thompson have joined Insight Strategy Group in New York as analysts. Aguilar had been communications officer for the Children’s Media Association. Thompson was associate strategist at in-sync Consumer Insight in Toronto.

NBCUNIVERSAL

NBCUniversal promoted several executives in its ad sales organization, including Scott Schiller to executive vice president, digital ad sales; Krishan Bhatia to executive vice president, digital strategy and operations; Barry Fischer to executive vice president, sales analytics; and Earl Marshall to executive vice president, chief financial officer.

Also, Mike Mayer was named senior vice president, sales solutions at NBCU. He comes from Turner Broadcasting System.

TURNER

DeRetta Cole advanced to vice president, human resources, technology and operations at Turner Broadcasting System. She was director, human resources.

SONAR

Debbie Back was named senior vice president, North American sales at New York-based Sonar Entertainment. She comes from National Geographic Kids Entertainment, where she was VP and head of worldwide sales.

VIMN

Viacom International Media Networks – The Americas has named Maria Badillo vice president of programming and production at Tr3s. She comes from Discovery Networks Latin America/U.S. Hispanic, where she was director of progamming and acquisitions.

VIAMEDIA

Lexington, Ky.-based independent cable rep firm Viamedia has named Chris Black as its chief financial officer. He comes from Vivint, where he was CFO and a member of the board of directors.

DID YOU KNOW?

Jeff Berman oversaw the TV deal for Quarterlife, the first scripted digital series to migrate to network television.

DID YOU KNOW?

Chris Black helped position residential security fi rm Vivint for a $2 billion sale to Blackstone, one of the largest such sales in the sector’s history.