Suzanne Grimes New President At Westwoond One

Suzanne Grimes

Cumulus Media Inc. announces the appointment of accomplished media and advertising executive Suzanne Grimes as President of the Westwood One Division and Executive Vice President of Corporate Marketing for all of Cumulus.

These dual roles, reporting to CEO Mary Berner, will ensure unified efforts to enhance advertising sales at both the national and local levels.

Grimes is the former President and Chief Operating Officer of Clear Channel Outdoor North America, where she oversaw the development and launch of initiatives that successfully drove growth in a rapidly changing and competitive media environment.

The new role of President, Westwood One Division creates a unified structure that maximizes opportunities across the division’s national content and sales platform. Steve Shaw, President of Westwood One, will continue to lead ad sales, and Charles Steinhauer, Chief Operating Officer of Westwood One, will continue to lead operations, both reporting directly to Grimes.

The new role of Executive Vice President, Corporate Marketing will enable Grimes to provide her expertise in developing corporate marketing and branding opportunities as well as in creating new research and insights to stimulate ad growth and sales efforts across Cumulus.

“When it comes to anything in media, Suzanne’s the full package,” said Berner.

“With 30 years of experience building content businesses into high-performing brands, she brings valuable perspectives from leadership roles in outdoor, mobile, social, digital, print and experiential sectors for both public and private companies, so she’s a natural choice for these important roles. I look forward to her contribution as we build a stronger, more operationally focused organization.”

“I am delighted to join Cumulus Media,” said Grimes. “I have a huge appreciation for the power of radio as well as an understanding of how to grow revenue and execute flawlessly in a changing media landscape and across ad-supported environments with national/local complexities. I look forward to helping Mary and the rest of the executive team capitalize on the enormous opportunities ahead.”

Prior to joining Clear Channel Outdoor, Grimes founded SMG Advisors, a consultancy for media and technology start-ups where she kick-started companies in diverse industries including technology, fashion, and wellness. Grimes also brings to Cumulus significant operational experience working with some of the world’s most recognizable brands during her leadership roles at News Corp, Condé Nast and Reader’s Digest. Grimes was recognized by Ad Age as one of the “Women to Watch,” Folio 500 as among the “Brightest Lights” and Irish America as a “Business 100” honoree. She previously served on the Board of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America and MPA – The Association of Magazine Media and is an active media commentator at industry events and frequent blog contributor.

Grimes earned a B.S. in Business Administration from Georgetown University.