• September 16, 2008

Nielsen Co. Monday named Ed Dandridge senior vice president-chief communications officer, responsible for managing all of Nielsen's worldwide communications. He reports to Chief Marketing Officer John Burbank. Dandridge, who most recently operated his own consulting firm, previously was vice president-communication for the ABC Television Network. He effectively succeeds former Senior Vice President-Global Communications Karen Watson, who was recently named senior vice president-government public sector sales, a new sales development role inside Nielsen. Among other things, Nielsen is known to have begun working for the Department of Homeland Security, utilizing product sales data such as prescription drugs that might identify outbreaks of diseases or terrorist attacks.