FreshDirect Names Chief Consumer Officer
Online grocer FreshDirect has appointed Jodi Kahn its chief consumer officer, in which she will oversee all consumer-facing marketing, including shopping experience and digital/mobile development, driving new marketing platforms and enhancing the company’s insights and database platforms.
Kahn (right) “has an extensive background of not only building brands, but reinvigorating and defining them with powerful insights-based marketing and consumer-focused initiatives,” noted Jason Ackerman, CEO and co-founder of Long Island City, N.Y.-based FreshDirect. “She has also demonstrated a great ability to cultivate and lead teams across large-scale businesses.”
Kahn’s most recent position was president of iVillage, the largest online content community for women, at NBCUniversal, in which she re-engineered the business, introduced new revenue/licensing models and rewrote the organization’s DNA. Her team created an insight tool and set in motion the “Community Challenges” program to engage users on health, education and financial issues. Earlier, Kahn was president, global digital media for Readers Digest Association (RDA) Inc., where she oversaw allrecipes.com, executed a strategy for digital expansion and developed a global licensing business, and she also spent 16 years at Time Inc., holding a range of senior-level positions in consumer marketing and business management.
“FreshDirect delivers the best-tasting, freshest produce and chef-made meals directly to customers’ doorsteps at the time they choose,” noted Kahn. “To that end, we are hyper-focused on understanding our customers’ needs and building offerings and services that improve their food lives. I’ve been a FreshDirect customer for over 10 years, and it has saved my life! We are building a world-class consumer marketing team to capitalize on growth in the exciting online food sector.”
Further Marketing Hires
Kahn has hired three senior marketing executives to staff FreshDirect’s newly rebranded consumer group (formerly the marketing group) with social, creative, communications and direct marketing talent: Lisa Kolodny, VP, brand and communications; Alison Ehrmann, VP, consumer marketing; and Amanda Cortese Vogel, senior director, public relations.
Kolodny also worked at iVillage, most recently as VP, brand marketing and social media, and before that at Playboy, where she developed and implemented company-wide digital strategy and creative direction for the college market. Ehrmann’s most recent position was director, international expansion and digital marketing at Condé Nast, and she earlier worked at Time Inc. and enews.com, part of the Barnes & Noble.com network. Vogel joined FreshDirect Meredith Corp. where she headed consumer, trade and business public relations efforts for Better Homes and Gardens and EatingWell magazines; previously, she worked at Classic Media (now Dreamworks Classics) and nonprofit The Fresh Air Fund.
FreshDirect delivers premium farm-fresh foods and brand-name groceries directly to the doors of customers in the greater New York metro area and the greater Philadelphia area, including Delaware.