Skip Brand, previously a senior director of strategy and business development at Yahoo, has joined Wi-Fi directory JiWire as vice president of business development. At San Francisco-based JiWire,
Brand will lead the company's strategic partnership efforts relating to its Wi-Fi directory, software products and Wi-Fi advertising network. Through its ad network, JiWire allows marketers to place
sponsored links on the Web site splash pages of thousands of Wi-Fi hotspot providers. "The currency for keeping those hotspots alive is advertising," said Brand. At Yahoo, Brand led initiatives to
generate new products and revenue for the company's Connected Life business unit. He also developed Yahoo's Wi-Fi strategy and other alternative broadband strategies. Brand follows other Yahoo
executives who have recently departed the Internet portal to join startups. Among the most prominent is Gideon Yu, former Yahoo treasurer, who left last month to become chief financial officer at
YouTube.