Ad-Sales Vet Penry Price Joins Google

NEW YORK Google has tapped former US Weekly advertising director Penry Price as Eastern sales director.

In the new post, Price, 35, will manage the daily operations of the search company's Eastern regional sales offices, including New York, Toronto, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit and Dallas. He will also leverage his past experience in consumer print advertising to develop and manage Google's relationships with traditional advertisers and agencies.

"We have been ramping up our management teams as the business has grown, but more importantly, as customer segments have grown," said Google vp of advertising sales Tim Armstrong, to whom Price will report. "Penry helps us scale, and he helps us have a deeper level of understanding of the Fortune 500 customer base."

Price had spent nearly four years at US Weekly, where he managed advertising operations and the publication's national sales staff. Prior to that, he worked at Rolling Stone, where he held various ad-sales posts during his three-year tenure, including Eastern advertising director.

He began his career in advertising in the consumer electronics group of Hachette Filipacchi Magazines, which included the titles Stereo Review and Car Stereo Review.

Separately, Google's stock (GOOG) was trading on the Nasdaq late this afternoon at $118.31, down $1.52 or 1.3 percent.