- David Gianatasio

BOSTON A pair of former Yahoo execs have joined ChoiceStream to help the company move deeper into the online display advertising space.

The Cambridge, Mass., firm has hired Cheryl Kellond as svp, advertising, and appointed Usama Fayyad to its board of directors.

Kellond had been vp, advertiser product marketing at Yahoo, which she left several months ago. She led the Internet giant's efforts in search, display and video advertising, including its Smart Ads platform.

At ChoiceStream, she oversees data-driven display-ad programs, which she claims have yielded threefold increases in clicks and revenue by closely matching product pitches to past shopping behavior. (Smart Ads boasts similar functionality.)

Her new employer is banking on personalized banners and related vehicles to outstrip search over the long haul -- and Kellond is tasked with optimizing and marketing that initiative.

Despite some softness in the display market of late, she said search-based efforts have generally "played out," and insists ChoiceStream's technology can enhance existing online campaigns by showing prospective customers products they're likely to buy.

Fayyad was an evp at Yahoo, where he founded and led a research group that analyzed 500 million unique monthly visitors to convert buying and response patterns into improved ad performance.

AT&T, Borders, Overstock.com and Tesco are key ChoiceStream customers. The firm also works with Yahoo.