Exec takes post overseeing national offices

Former Discovery ad sales president Ben Price has been named executive VP, sales and client partnerships, national offices, at NBCUniversal.

In his newly created post, Price will oversee agency and client relationships in NBCU’s sales offices. Cherie Cohen in Los Angeles, Meghan Valand in San Francisco, Jeff Clennon in Chicago, Barrett McCree and Caroline Wright in Detroit and Keller Withers in Atlanta will report to Price.

Price will report to Mark Marshall, president of ad sales and partnerships.

In 2016, Price was named president for sales at Discovery, succeeding Joe Abruzzese, who retired. When Discovery acquired Scripps Networks Interactive last year, the two ad sales organizations were consolidated and Scripps’ Jon Steinlauf was given the top spot. Price left the company afterwards.

“As NBCUniversal continues to expand both nationally and globally, our scale demands this new role to coordinate client service across our national offices,” said Marshall. “With decades of experience helping brands leverage premium environments to grow, Ben is the perfect person to lead this effort, and connect our clients to the best resources and custom solutions NBCUniversal has to offer.”

Price joined Discovery in 1989. He began his advertising career at Turner Broadcasting in 1986.