A veteran radio sales executive who has served as VP/Advertising and Affiliate Sales for the ESPN Audio Network, which includes the ESPN Radio network, has just been snagged by Sirius XM to serve as its new head of advertising sales.
Mike Connolly will oversee SiriusXM’s ad sales efforts across its wide-ranging lineup of channels that take advertising, which includes entertainment, news, comedy and sports. He reports to SiriusXM President/Chief Content Officer Scott Greenstein.
Connolly served in his previous role for the past eight years. Prior to joining ESPN, he served as SVP/Ad Sales for both Citadel Communications and ABC Radio Networks.
“I’ve been a longtime listener of SiriusXM content and have always been a huge fan,” Connolly said. “A vast majority of my career has been in radio sales, so the opportunity to lead the sales effort at SiriusXM is a dream come true.”
Greenstein added that Connolly’s “extensive experience in audio entertainment will be of crucial importance to SiriusXM as our programming depth and variety expand and the national audience of subscribers and listeners continues to rise.”
Connolly succeeds Bette Rockmore, who had overseen SiriusXM’s ad sales efforts since 2009 and is moving into a teaching role at Pace University. Rockmore will assist in the transition and continue to work with SiriusXM as a consultant.
John Fitzgerald, VP/Multimedia Sales for ESPN Deportes and ESPN Audio, is absorbing Connolly’s former role.