Pinterest has confirmed that its head of advertising products, Jon Alferness, has left the company and that he has made a change to his product organization team. According to a spokesperson for Pinterest, the company's consumer products and advertising teams are now grouped into a single group – an integrated product team – led by Senior Vice President of Product Lawrence Ripsher.
Alferness was with Pinterest for less than a year, joining the company in July 2017. In December, he was promoted to the head of the Pinterest advertising business when it was announced that Tim Kendall , the former head of Pinterest, was leaving the company. At the time, Alferness was named senior vice president of advertising and commerce and reported directly to Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann.
Pinterest issued the following statement related to Alferness leaving the company:
Pinterest helps you discover and do what you love. To carry out this mission, we help partners put their ads in front of people who will love their products and services. With this in mind, we built an integrated product team that led to a change in leadership. This strengthens our momentum and will provide better products to Pinners and partners. We would like to thank Jon for all the work he has done for the company and we wish him good luck.
The release of Alferness comes on Pinterest's heels by hiring Françoise Brougher as his first COO. A former senior executive of Square, Mr. Brougher oversees Pinterest sales, partner marketing, measurement, business and business development as well as corporate communications teams.
Recode broke with the release of Alferness on April 3, noting the restructuring of the company in anticipation of its IPO, which is expected to take place early in the year 2019.
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Amy Gesenhues is the general reporter for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for land and search engine marketing. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning columnist for a number of dailies in New York, Texas. With over ten years of experience in marketing management, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs.com, SoftwareCEO.com, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more articles from Amy.