Acxiom Corp. has named John Meyer chief executive officer and president.
Meyer has been president of the Global Services group of Alcatel-Lucent since 2003. Previously, he spent almost 20 years in a executive positions at EDS that included chairman of the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) operating team, president of diversified financial services and credit services divisions and chief information officer for the company’s GMAC business.
Meyer, who joins Acxiom on Feb. 4, succeeds Charles Morgan, a 35-year company veteran.
In an interview with Direct Newsline, Meyer said his experience with the financial services sector of EDS would stand him in good stead with the marketing list industry.
“The wholesale management of information fell within the purview of what we did,” Meyer said. Similarly, “Alcatel-Lucent was 100% a technology company when I joined it. Like many industries they didn’t know their customers very well.”
Meyer also said he wanted to put the company’s turmoil of the last few years in the rear-view mirror. Acxiom had gone through a nasty proxy fight, as well as an abortive attempt to take the company private.
