Morris Hands Over Arbitron Hot Seat

Arbitron has appointed Michael P. Skarzynski as President and CEO, taking over immediately from Steve Morris who will continue as Chairman of the Board and serve as an advisor during the transition.

Skarzynski, who also joins the firm's Board of Directors, worked earlier in his career in various marketing, sales and general positions with Lucent and AT&T Network Systems, including VP and COO of the multi-billion dollar Emerging Service Provider Business; he also held management positions at Motorola. He has been CEO of public company Performance Technologies and three privately held technology firms, Xebeo, Predictive Networks and most recently, performance management software company Iptivia.

He began his career as an Assistant to the President of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. and later served as Assistant Secretary for Trade Development and Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Commerce. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service degree from Georgetown University in 1978 and an MBA from Northwestern University in 1983. Skarzynski, 52, will be based in the Columbia, Maryland office.

Phil Guarascio, Arbitron Director and Chairman of its Board Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, says the appointment follows a thorough search process and that Skarzynski is 'the perfect leader to build on Arbitron's strong foundation' in challenging economic times.

Morris, 65, who was CEO for 16 years, said this was 'a good time to hand the reins over to a new CEO'. Skarzynski comments: 'My priorities are clear: focus the collective talent and commitment of the Arbitron team to support our worldwide customer base and ensure our joint success in today's economic climate.'

However, he will first have to deal with continuing threats of legal challenges to the roll-out of the flagship PPM system. In the latest development, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez has written to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to encourage the organisation to launch an investigation mooted in the autumn. Menendez comments: 'PPM is a flawed data gathering methodology that should not have been allowed to rollout in the first place. We applaud Attorney General Cuomo and Attorney General Milgram's leadership in taking up this issue and their hard work to make sure Arbitron is not allowed to continue using this product in the New York and New Jersey area.' (In fact the settlements do no such thing).

On Friday, the company announced today that the Media Rating Council® (MRC) has accredited the PPM in Riverside-San Bernardino, where it uses the Radio First methodology, combining a telephone-based sample frame and telephone recruitment, and including both landline and cell-phone-only households. Morris said the firm was committed to 'continuous improvement' and would continue to work with the MRC on enhancing the quality of the sample in Riverside-San Bernardino.

Web sites: www.arbitron.com and www.mediaratingcouncil.org .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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