In a press release, ART19 announced that it has made some new hires. Both of them come from Stitcher. From the press release:

As part of its plan to be the best in class solution for all audio publishing, ART19, a pioneer of dynamic ad insertion and leader in enterprise podcast hosting, is expanding its suite of technology products to advertisers and connecting them more efficiently with content creators.

To drive the new effort, ART19 is hiring proven industry leaders Korri Kolesa and Lex Friedman. Korri Kolesa, former Chief Revenue Officer at Stitcher, is joining as Chief Operating Officer and Lex Friedman, former Chief Business Development Officer at Stitcher, is joining as ART19’s Chief Revenue Officer.

“We are excited to have Korri and Lex join the team,” said Sean Carr, ART19’s CEO. “Their technology backgrounds, advertiser relationships, and proven success at monetizing podcasts makes them a perfect fit to spearhead our expansion efforts.”

“The level of talent and quality of content in podcasting keeps rising,” said Korri Kolesa. “Traditional approaches to podcast sales will need to evolve for revenue to catch up with the spectacular growth of listening in the space. ART19 is focused on building the innovative tools that advertisers need to better connect with audiences – and to make hosts more money for the same great shows they already love making.”

Nick Quah of Hot Pod has some background information. From Hot Pod:

Kolesa departs after slightly more than two years at Stitcher, where she worked to expand the company’s sales infrastructure.

Friedman, meanwhile, leaves after six years at the company, after his own podcast advertising venture, Podlexing, was ingested into what is now known as Midroll 2013. He was part of Stitcher/Midroll Media leadership through the Jeff Ulrich and Adam Sachs years, along with the acquisition by EW Scripps in 2015.