I went to high School with a woman named Susan Decker, but not Yahoo!’s CFO. So every time I hear her name mentioned I think of my high school classmate (someone I haven’t spoken to in more than 20 years.)
Here’s the NY Times (reg req’d) favorable article profiling Yahoo!’s Decker, the consensus candidate to succeed CEO Terry Semel. My experience with her has been very indirect. The Times points out she’s not an engineer: “Part of Yahoo’s challenge in catching up with Google is technological. Yet despite Ms. Decker’s lack of technology background, associates say she is up to the job.”
But that’s an asset here ultimately. She just has to understand how the stuff works. Engineers can also make decisions that are good for and make sense to engineers but not the mainstream marketer or user.
When I was at The Kelsey Group, I participated in some analysis around advertiser segmentation with Yahoo!. Decker was overseeing that work ultimately so I know she’s been aware of and involved with advertising issues beyond simply a revenues perspective for at least a couple of years.
