CBS Promotes Senior Advertising Sales Execs

CBS promoted several senior ad sales executives.

Two long time CBS employees, Linda Rene and Dean Kaplan were named executive VP, according to an internal memo from Jo Ann Ross, president of sales at CBS.

Rene continues to head primetime sales and innovation. She has had those responsibilities since 2002. Rene joined the company in 1983. As head of primetime sales Rene “has played a key role at CBS, generating more advertising dollars in Prime than any other network,” Ross said. “Linda has also been instrumental in CBS’s industry-leading position on working with clients on innovative ideas to promote their brands in a way that is both organic to our programming and additive to our client’s advertising campaigns.”

Kaplan, with CBS since 1991, has been in charge of planning and administration since 1999. “He is second-to-none in providing expert guidance on the ever-changing marketplace and growing new technologies,” Ross said.

CBS also promoted Cristin DeVries and Antoinette Clarke to VP of branded entertainment and media innovation, with DeVries focusing on primetime while Clark concentrates on daytime.

DeVries joined CBS in 2000 and most recently was director of branded entertainment and media innovation.

Clarke joined CBS in 2012 as director of branded entertainment for The Talk. She was given responsibility for integrations in all CBS daytime programming last spring.

“Cristin and Antoinette’s dedication and talent have earned them the respect of their peers throughout the industry, and I look forward to their contributions as they step into their well-earned new titles,” Ross said.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.