Comcast’s FreeWheel elevates David Dworin to chief product officer

Comcast’s advanced advertising unit FreeWheel has elevated David Dworin to chief product officer to oversee the ad-tech company’s product strategy, design and development globally.

Dworin is replacing Jon Whitticom, who became FreeWheel’s product chief in 2019 but left the company this year and is now serving as an advisor for Netflix’s advertising platform, per his LinkedIn page.

Dworin, meanwhile, joined FreeWheel in 2017 and most recently was VP of product management, leading enablement of programmatic for premium video and multi-screen transactions. Prior to that he led the company’s global consulting arm and trust and standards team. Before joining FreeWheel, Dworin ran his own consulting firm, and also held strategy roles at StrategyOne (now Edelman Data x Intelligence) and Gallup. As chief product officer, Dworin will report to FreeWheel General Manager Mark McKee.

In addition to Dworin’s appointment, FreeWheel also named Quentin SaLay, most recently VP of human resources for Comcast’s Beltway region, as head of human resources for the company globally.  

“Television advertising is constantly evolving, and to ensure that FreeWheel continues to pioneer and innovate new solutions that address the industry’s needs, we need to be led by the best of the best,” said McKee in a statement. “These two leaders embody the mindset, drive, energy and passion we need to take the company forward. David is a highly collaborative and insightful team and industry leader; and Quentin brings a strong background in moving the needle on workplace culture, change and results within the technology sector.”

Dworin’s promotion comes as FreeWheel continues to carve out a place in the evolving TV advertising ecosystem. In 2022 that included changes to leadership, with Katy Loria named as chief revenue officer and Soo Jin Oh as the unit’s first chief strategy officer.

FreeWheel’s also signed partner deals and introduced new capabilities as it works to make programmatic CTV buying more scalable and effective for advertisers – including leveraging Comcscore audience data for its demand-side platform Beeswax to help media buyers enhance contextual targeted ads. In October the company also looked to give programmatic a priority boost with new unified yield capabilities, meant to reduce friction and inefficiencies in the TV ad buying process across sales channels.

In recent months media companies and agencies have tapped FreeWheel, including Fox which is looking to the company to help manage direct-sold advertising campaigns. Estrella Media and Havas Media North America have each also recently turned to FreeWheel as a partner to help bolster direct and programmatic advertising, and scale U.S. CTV campaigns, respectively.