BALTIMORE – Vertis Communications, a results-driven marketing communications company that delivers inventive advertising, direct marketing and interactive solutions to prominent brands across North America, announced today the appointment of Thomas Pierno as Chief Financial Officer where he will lead the company's finance and supply chain management teams.

In this role, Pierno will work with business leaders across the organization to ensure strategic business initiatives and operations are directly aligned with Vertis' financial goals. More than 20 years of financial expertise will enable Pierno to provide strategic insight into future financial investments that directly support the multichannel marketing needs of Vertis' industry leading clients.

"Tom's extensive industry knowledge developed through years of experience with leading technology, media and communication firms gives him the experience needed to ensure Vertis continues to be well positioned for rapid growth and expansion," said Gerald Sokol, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer, Interim, for Vertis Communications. "The appointment of Tom to Chief Financial Officer will enable Vertis to more rapidly respond to changes in the industry, further advancing our role as strategic marketing partner for leading global brands."
Pierno most recently served as Vice President, Financial Planning and Treasury at Comverse Technology, a global provider of software and systems for billing, voice, messaging, mobile Internet and mobile advertising where he was responsible for worldwide budgets, forecasts, special projects and treasury operations. Prior to this role, Pierno spent 11 years with AOL where he most recently served as Senior Vice President and Controller responsible for worldwide accounting, consolidated internal and external reporting and disclosure, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance monitoring and reporting, as well as worldwide financial planning and analysis. During his time at AOL, Pierno held financial leadership positions in AOL Access and AOL International, where he lead financial operations of AOL's global joint ventures. Pierno founded the Internal Audit function at AOL, and also worked on strategic acquisitions such as ICQ and Netscape Communications. Before AOL, Pierno was Chief Financial Officer at World Color Press. In addition, he served as Director – Planning and Reporting at Paramount Communications Inc. and began his career as a CPA at Ernst & Young. He graduated summa cum laude with an MBA and BBA in Accounting from Pace University.

For more information about the appointment of Thomas Pierno to Chief Financial Officer or Vertis' strategic approach to communications and direct marketing, please contact Jessica Vastyan with Stanton Communications at 202-223-4933 or [email protected].