• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, January 29, 2010

Darren Herman, the head of digital media at The Media Kitchen, and president of Varick Media Management, has been promoted to Chief Digital Officer of the MDC Partners' media shop, but will relinquish his role managing VMM, one of the first "demand-side" online advertising trading systems to emerge on Madison Avenue.

MDC said a search is underway for a new president of VMM, but that Herman would hold a seat on its board and would continue to guide it strategically.

Herman, a digital wunderkind who joined The Media Kitchen in 2007, founded VMM in 2008 with a focus on developing an "audience-driven" approach to digital media buys.

In January 2009, Herman created The New Platforms Fund, which invests in digital media businesses that are created on top of open platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and the iPhone.