AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Nielsen group taps Byrne

Publishing veteran named senior VP

Publishing vet Gerry Byrne has been named senior VP of Nielsen Business Media’s newly constituted entertainment group.
In a related move, John Kilcullen, senior VP of the company’s Film & Performing Arts and Music & Literary group since October 2006, is ankling to pursue what a statement called “his passion as an entrepreneur.”

Starting Friday, Byrne will report to Greg Farrar, prexy of Nielsen Business Media. His purview will encompass titles such as Billboard, the Hollywood Reporter, Back Stage and Kirkus Reviews, plus the tradeshows ShoWest, ShowEast, Cinema Expo Intl. and CineAsia Exposition.

A Nielsen rep said Byrne soon will announce a new exec team reporting to him, including positions to supplement the efforts of Reporter senior VP and publishing director Eric Mika, who joined the company last spring and will remain.

Byrne’s lengthy career includes more than 13 years at Variety as publisher and group VP. Before Variety, Byrne was a senior exec at ACT III Publishing and Crain Communications.