FreeWheel Appoints Carl Kalapesi as Chief Operating Officer

Former IAB and Oath executive to lead the company’s global business operations and partner with leadership to drive strategic growth.

NEW YORK – FreeWheel, a Comcast Company, today announced that it has named Carl Kalapesi as chief operating officer. In this new role, Kalapesi will oversee the company’s global business operations, supporting its three primary business units (FreeWheel Markets, FreeWheel Publishers and FreeWheel Advertisers). He will also lead and accelerate the company’s external and industry partnerships and ensure FreeWheel’s alignment and progress toward fulfilling key strategic portfolio initiatives.

Kalapesi joined FreeWheel this month and reports to the company’s general manager, Dave Clark.

“FreeWheel’s continued product innovation and momentum for publishers and marketers is exciting, but it also means we need to invest in leadership that can help us manage our growth,” Clark said. “A strategist at heart, Carl has successfully helped companies across a diverse range of sectors architect and build a foundation and roadmap for sustained, future growth.”

Kalapesi brings more than 20 years of experience working with industries spanning media, technology, advertising and economic policy across the U.S., U.K., Africa and Asia. He joins FreeWheel from Oath, a Verizon Company, where he was most recently vice president, global strategy and business operations. There, he successfully led a team to deliver on growth initiatives, operational and productivity improvements (including the AOL-Yahoo integration) and data-driven strategic projects.

He was formerly at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where he advised clients in the Technology, Media and Telecom space in the UK and USA. Kalapesi was also vice president, industry initiatives at The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), where he helped establish the industry body’s first Programmatic Council. Early in his career, Kalapesi was an economic advisor in international economic development working in Vietnam and Tanzania. He has published several notable industry reports and served as keynote speaker at industry events around the world. He holds a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD.

About FreeWheel

FreeWheel, A Comcast Company, empowers all segments of The New TV Ecosystem. We are structured to provide the full breadth of solutions the advertising industry needs to achieve their goals. We power the technology, data enablement, and convergent marketplaces required to ensure buyers and sellers can transact across all screens, across all data types, and all sales channels, in order to ensure the ultimate goal – results for marketers.

With offices in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, London, Paris, Beijing, and across the globe, FreeWheel, A Comcast Company, stands to advocate for the entire industry through the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video. For more information, please visit www.freewheel.tv, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Media Contacts

Elaine Wong, 929-388-9098
elaine_wong@comcast.com

Meredith Fitzgerald, 610-350-3348
meredith_fitzgerald@comcast.com