• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, April 15, 2010

Online ad sales network QuadrantOne on Thursday named Mario Diez as its new SVP of National Sales.

In this new role, Diez will oversee QuadrantOne's sales and marketing strategies, working closely with the board of directors alongside QuadrantOne veterans Mimi Wotring, VP of operations and affiliate strategy, as well as Bill Vorhies, VP of Finance.

Diez most recently served as VP of Aperture Sales at Datran Media, where he is credited with driving display ad sales.

Launched in 2008 by Gannett Co., Hearst Corp., The New York Times Co., and Tribune Co., QuadrantOne now claims to offer ad inventory across over premium local news and information Web sites.

"This company really fits an industry need for quality content blended with advanced audience targeting," said Diez of his new employer. "The growth trajectory proves it."

Last year, the company said 130 new advertisers came aboard, and it was responsible for 230 separate ad campaigns.

Last week, however, news broke that CEO Andy Ellenthal was jumping ship to run New York-based semantic advertising company Peer39. A replacement has yet to be named.

To simplify the buying process for large brand advertisers, QuadrantOne last year created a centralized pool of standardized ad units from newspapers nationwide, which could then be sold off in blocks.

Prior to Datran, Diez spent three years as VP of Eastern Region sales at Centro, where he helped introduce the company's local media platform to the region, as well as retool the sales strategy and regional operations.