Dan Thomas Named Senior Vice President of Strategic Accounts for USA Today

McLean, Va. – Dan Thomas has been named senior vice president of strategic accounts for USA TODAY.  He will be responsible for overseeing an advertising sales team focused on new business acquisition. Thomas will be based in New York and report to Lee Jones, senior vice president of advertising.

“Dan is a dynamic sales executive who has consistently developed new business throughout his career. His credentials and background were exactly what we were looking for to lead our new strategic accounts sales team. We couldn’t be happier to have him aboard,” said Jones.

Thomas joins USA TODAY from Sony Pictures Television, where he has been senior vice president of branded entertainment since 2009. At Sony, he was responsible for creating integrated advertiser relationships in all Sony video content,both television and digital.

“I’m really looking forward to joining the very talented team at USA TODAY. I think it’s an exciting time for the business and a great opportunity for me. I plan to hit the ground running and lead this new business sales team to success in 2012,” said Thomas.

Previously, he spent more than 10 years at Univision as senior vice president of sales development and marketing. He developed dozens of new business relationships during his tenure. Prior to that, he spent five years at Lifetime Television in sales development and new media. He previously held positions with the National Cable Association, Telerep Inc., and KTTV in Los Angeles.

USA TODAY is a multi-platform news and information media company. Founded in 1982, USA TODAY’s mission is to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation. Today, through its newspaper, website and mobile platforms, USA TODAY connects readers and engages the national conversation. USA TODAY, the nation’s number one newspaper in print circulation with an average of nearly 1.8 million daily, and USATODAY.com, an award-winning newspaper website launched in 1995, reach a combined 5.4 million readers daily. USA TODAY is a leader in mobile applications with more than ten million downloads on mobile devices.  The USA TODAY brand also includes USA TODAY Education and USA TODAY Sports Weekly. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).