In a reshuffling at the top of video and ad-tech company Imagine Communications, Tom Cotney has succeeded Charlie Vogt as CEO.
Cotney takes the new post immediately. Vogt is joining The Gores Group as a senior advisor, where he will continue to drive M&A and business development activities at Imagine, the company said. Both execs will work together during this transitional phase.
Cotney, who is also joining the board of directors at Imagine, has previously served as GM of the communications sector unit at IBM Global services, and has been a CEO and board member for several privately held companies, including mBlox and Air2Web.
Vogt was named CEO of Harris Broadcast in July 2013, and led the way to multiple acquisitions as Harris split into two operational units --Imagine Communications and GatesAir – the following year.
The Gores Group is a private equity firm based in Los Angeles with about $2 billion in assets under management. In addition to Imagine and GatesAir, it has investments in several other companies, including Vitac, DataBlue, Tweddle Group, Therakos, Sagemcom, and VeriFone.
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During his time as CEO, Vogt has been active in driving IP and cloud services into Imagine’s product line and helping partners such as The Walt Disney Co. with those transitions. Imagine didn't offer a specific reason for the change, but TVNewsCheck, citing unnamed industry sources, reported that Vogt "was unable to convert his IP strategy into steady growth."
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“Over the past four years, Imagine has transformed the media industry by becoming the first company to deliver on its vision of an all IP/cloud network for playout and master control,” Alec Gores, founder, Chairman and CEO of The Gores Group, said in a statement. “I want to acknowledge and personally thank Charlie for his leadership in driving this massive transformation and placing Imagine’s technology at the forefront of the industry. Sharing our vision of where the industry is heading, Tom is uniquely qualified to build on this momentum and I welcome him in his new role.”
“I am excited about the opportunity to lead Imagine to the next level,” added Cotney. “Business models in transformation have become the norm in almost every company today. I can’t thank Charlie and the team enough for building Imagine into one of the market leading, long-term players in this industry.”
“Imagine Communications could not be better positioned than we are today to take market-share across the ad management, playout, networking and distribution markets, particularly as we continue to guide the industry transition to IP and the cloud,” Vogt said. “We are pacing to have our best quarter of the year, and Friday we signed a strategic Advertising Management System contract to accelerate the emerging ATSC 3.0 multi-services market. I look forward to supporting Tom Cotney is his new role in an advisory capacity at The Gores Group and believe he will be able to fuel Imagine’s continued expansion and innovation.”
