MarketCast has recruited Lana Busignani, a veteran advertising and media research exec, as CEO. In addition, the company named Paul Shortley as chief revenue officer and Kerel Cooper as chief marketing officer.
At MarketCast, Busignani takes over the chief executive role from Amy Fenton, who was appointed CEO in July and has transitioned to a senior advisory role to its board and executive team. The company, which claims the have one of the largest historical databases of consumer sentiment around brands and campaigns, is owned by private-equity firm Kohlberg & Co.
The appointments of Busignani, Shortley and Cooper and come as MarketCast prepares the launch in early 2026 of Total Effect, a solution “combining creative effectiveness within media execution, helping brands and agencies better understand the elements driving their performance in real life,” according to the company. Total Effect will serve as the centerpiece of MarketCast’s next-generation product suite.
Busignani brings more than three decades of leadership experience across media, marketing effectiveness and advertising research. She most recently was GM of global media for Advent International’s NielsenIQ (NIQ), which she joined in February 2024 after serving in senior roles Quotient Technology, Nielsen Media and Ipsos.
“Joining MarketCast at this moment is energizing, especially given the opportunities to deliver even more value to our clients,” said Busignani. “Marketers are facing unprecedented pressure to prove what’s working, and MarketCast is uniquely positioned to answer that.”
Shortley, who has more than 20 years of experience in the field including at Nielsen, most recently was head of commercial, global media at MRI-Simmons and before that was chief revenue officer at Relo Metrics. Cooper previously served as CMO of contextual-advertising tech company GumGum and has worked for companies including LiveIntent and Advance Digital.
MarketCast, based in Culver City, California, was founded in 1987. The company says it provides advertising research to more than 80% of top U.S. advertisers. MarketCast’s clients include Walmart, Lego, PayPal, Nike, Take-Two Interactive’s 2K Games and Jeff Bezos-backed EV automaker Slate.