Our People posts

AOL is in the business of helping people, and a bunch of AOLers lent a hand to build gifts for those in need during AOL's Epic Sales Conference in December. Many members of the AOL Sales and Advertising teams took time out of the day to handcraft rocking chairs, wheelchairs, bicycles and more, to give to those in need during the holiday season.

These gifts will benefit both Big Brothers Big Sisters by giving bicycles to children on the waiting list for a proper big brother or sister and the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center by donating wheelchairs to a hospital with a surplus of veterans and a shortage of wheelchairs.

We'd like to take a moment to thank these great organizations for the work that they do and for their help in making this happen.

Take a look at a gallery of AOLers hard at work, and some of the recipients trying out their new gifts below. To learn more AOL's Corporate Social Responsibility efforts, visit the AOL Corporate Site.

We're thrilled to announce that Erika Nardini has joined AOL as Vice President, Head of Marketing Solutions for AOL Advertising. In this role, Erika will drive marketing and creative strategies for AOL's advertising business.

Erika Nardini is an industry leader who's worked with major digital brands in key marketing roles. She was previously with Demand Media, where she served as Senior VP of Sales and Marketing and helped develop brand partnerships with The Home Depot, L'Oreal, Johnson & Johnson and more.

Earlier in her career, Erika was the VP of Brand Packaging & Solutions with Yahoo!, Inc., where she managed the marketing strategies and publishing capabilities across the company's leading properties and products. She also spent time with Microsoft building the global capabilities of its branded entertainment and experiences business while opening several offices for that unit across the globe. Erika earned a BA from Colby College.

We're happy to announce that Allie Savarino Kline has joined AOL as Chief Marketing Officer for Advertising.com Group. In this global role, Kline will oversee marketing strategy to drive demand for the Group's advertising solutions for publishers, advertisers and agencies.

Kline has an extensive history in brand management and marketing strategy for technology-focused organizations. Most recently she was the Chief Marketing Officer for big data and social graph company, 33Across, where she worked with over 375 Fortune 1000 advertisers and 650,000 global publishers. Prior to that role, Kline served as Vice President of Marketing at Brand Affinity Technologies (BAT), overseeing the company's brand development, marketing, and talent relationships. Additionally, she ran global marketing for Unicast, a leader in rich media advertising for over 10 years.

Kline earned a B.A. in corporate communications from Ithaca College. She is a frequent industry speaker and press spokesperson, and was named to Fast Company's "Fast 50" list for Internet video innovation in 2005. Kline also serves as a board member on Jack Myers' Women's Media & Mentoring Initiative.

Learn more about Allie Kline by reading the full press release.

We are proud to announce that we've added a new Patcher to the team! Steve Kalin will serve in the newly created role of President and Chief Operating Officer, overseeing the day-to-day operations of Patch. He will also manage the edit, sales, and finance and analytics functions.

Steve joins us from Westwood One, where he served as Chief Operating Officer and President of the Metro Traffic division, managing over 3,000 affiliate relationships andmore than 1,000 employees, including a 120 person sales force, over 700 on-air traffic reporters and data specialists and a 65-person news gathering organization.

Steve is the latest addition to Patch's leadership team. In October, Leigh Zarelli Lewis joined Patch as SVP of Strategy and Business Development and Jim Lipuma joined as Head of U.S. Sales.

Patch currently has over 900 sites in 23 states, plus Washington, D.C., with over one thousand professional journalists managing those sites and over 30,000 bloggers contributing content. Find your local Patch by visiting: http://www.patch.com/