• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, September 7, 2011

Travel Ad Network (TAN) on Wednesday is expected to name WebMD vet Nan-Kirsten Forte as its new CEO.  

As head of the ad network-cum-digital media company, Forte says major changes are already underway.

"Every aspect of our operations -- from the name of the company, to potential acquisitions, to the creation of new proprietary travel properties -- is under accelerated review," Forte said on Tuesday.

Forte comes from WebMD. Most recently, she served as executive vice president of brand development and chief innovation officer. She is credited with helping to grow its consumer audience from less than 1 million to over 100 million monthly unique users.

At TAN, Forte says she is "intensely focused [on] leveraging unduplicated audiences." Finding new audiences means creating new consumer-facing brands in the travel space -- something Forte says she plans to do in partnership with existing publishers, as well as independently.

In particular, Forte sees a lack of travel-news oriented publishers -- similar to the health space 10 to 15 years ago. As in her efforts at WebMD, Forte says she is ready to put travel news on the map.

Put another way, Forte said it is her responsibility to "help media buyers understand that [TAN] is an exclusive promotional media placement agency offering a 100% travel-qualified audience."

Brian Silver, TAN's president and CEO since 2009, will remain president of the company, while heading up a newly created division called Travel Publisher and Advertiser Services.

Forte said the new unit was part of a large restructuring at the company, and was necessary to address publishers' and advertisers' needs beyond ad placements.

"The way the company was organized was not optimized for future growth," Forte said. "Creating a service division -- separate from the sales division -- will help it grow."

Following an additional $15 million in venture capital, Silver said he was seeking to break out of the ad network box as early as last October. TAN announced the purchase of assets from TravelMuse, a travel planning Web site, in November.