OREANDA-NEWS. Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN) announced Matt O'Grady has been named Chief Executive Officer of Nielsen Catalina Solutions (NCS) reporting to the NCS board of directors.  Nielsen assumed majority ownership of NCS, a joint venture with Catalina, in 2015.

"Matt is a world-class leader," said Nielsen Chief Operating Officer Steve Hasker.  "His experience and expertise in media, advertising and performance management make him uniquely positioned to take on the CEO role and drive performance and innovation for Nielsen Catalina Solutions and its clients."

Most recently, O'Grady served as Executive Vice President and Managing Director of local media, where he was responsible for strategy and development for Nielsen's local television and audio clients. Since joining Nielsen more than 15 years ago, he has held numerous executive positions within the company, including Executive Vice President of media product leadership and President of Nielsen Claritas (now Consumer Activation). In 2013 in addition to leading local television and local agencies, O'Grady assumed responsibility for Nielsen's local radio business when the company acquired Arbitron (now Nielsen Audio) and successfully integrated the three entities to create a single Local Media Group. Before joining Nielsen, he held management positions with National Decision Systems, AT&T and the Daniel Yankelovich Group.  O'Grady holds a Bachelor of Science from University of California at Santa Barbara.

Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global performance management company that provides a comprehensive understanding of what consumers watch and buy. Nielsen's Watch segment provides media and advertising clients with Total Audience measurement services for all devices on which content—video, audio and text—is consumed. The Buy segment offers consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers the industry's only global view of retail performance measurement. By integrating information from its Watch and Buy segments and other data sources, Nielsen also provides its clients with analytics that help improve performance. Nielsen, an S&P 500 company, has operations in over 100 countries, covering more than 90% of the world's population.