• by Joe Mandese , April 27, 2007

In a surprise move, Nielsen Thursday informed clients that it has restructured its management team, dividing its operations among two key executives - Dave Thomas and Jim O'Hara - who will oversee all client-related and product related activities, respectively.

Thomas, who had been senior vice president-strategy and business development, and has long been Nielsen media chief Susan Whiting's right-hand man, was named president of media client services, responsible for all of Nielsen Media Research and Nielsen Entertainment, Nielsen//NetRatings, and BuzzMetrics services, as well as Nielsen's collaboration with Arbitron on Project Apollo.

O'Hara, who has been senior vice president-CFO of Nielsen's Media Measurement and Information Group, becomes president of media products, responsible for specific products and groups, including the so-called "Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement" (A2/M2) initiative.

The moves follow a the restructuring of Nielsen Co. late last year following its buy-out by a group of private equity firms and the installation of former GE manager David Calhoun as CEO. In that restructuring, Nielsen Media Research CEO Whiting emerged as executive vice president of Nielsen Co., and the No. 2 person underneath Calhoun.

In some ways, the elevation of Thomas and O'Hara should not be a surprise. The team effectively took over all of Nielsen's media operations when Whiting took an eight-week leave of absence last summer to adopt two children.

It's unclear what the ascendance of Thomas and O'Hara mean for the rest of Nielsen's management team, or whether any key executives left as part of the moves, but all of the media researcher's key managers now report up either through Thomas or O'Hara, with the exception of Chief Research Officer Paul Donato, and Chief Technology Officer Bob Luff, who continue to report directly to Whiting.

Among the key executives reporting to Thomas now are of Executive Vice President-Client Services Sara Erichson; President of Nielsen Music and COO East Coast Operations for Nielsen Entertainment Rob Sisco; and President of Film and Home Entertainment Howard Ballon.

"While many of our roles within the Nielsen Company are changing, what is unchanged is our commitment to providing you with information of extraordinary value - timely, accurate information you need to succeed," Whiting said in the memo.