Meet the Seven Most Talked-About Candidates for Yahoo's Huge Vacant Sales Role

Who will be the new face of Yahoo in the advertising world? That's one of the most common questions in ad industry circles these days. Over the last couple of months, Yahoo has been looking to hire a new exec-VP for its Americas business, with the help of exec search firm Spencer Stuart. This is the job that Ross Levinsohn once held and is especially crucial considering that Yahoo's relationship with ad agencies has seen better days. But it does come with its challenges. For one, it reports to new Chief Operating Officer Henrique De Castro, a strong personality who has a reputation of being difficult to work with. It also could be challenging since Yahoo under Marissa Mayer has positioned itself first and foremost as a technology company -- not a media company. Still, it's one of the biggest jobs in all of digital advertising, and is one that is expected to pay handsomely. Here's a list of potential candidates -- some who are said to be in the mix and others who Yahoo would be wise to look at. Rich Riley Mr. Riley worked at Yahoo for more than 12 years and briefly held this role during Scott Thompson's short-lived CEO tenure, but departed when he was removed from the position by Ross Levinsohn. Before that, he ran revenue for Yahoo's business in Europe and the Middle East, where the company is a smaller player than it is here in the U.S. Marissa Mayer is said to be a fan of his and his name has been mentioned in recent days in connection with the job. Mr. Riley was said to be in the running for a C-level role at ad retargeter Criteo, but that opportunity seems to have fallen through. David Kohl Mr. Kohl ran ad sales for online music-video company Vevo up until his sudden departure from the company this week. He previously spent more than a decade in sales roles at Viacom across two different stints there. He is said to be in the mix. JP Colaco As Hulu's sales chief, Mr. Colaco has been a big factor in the video services' success. He spearheaded innovation around video ad targeting and formats, and is well-known and liked among TV advertisers and agencies. But the company's future is now murky following the departure of CEO Jason Kilar. Before Hulu, he spent more than a dozen years at Disney and also worked at McKinsey, of which Mr. De Castro is also an alum. On the flip side, this is a much bigger organization than Hulu so it might be a stretch. Here's the job description: Yahoo EVP Americas

Meet the Seven Most Talked-About Candidates for Yahoo's Huge Vacant Sales Role

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