BIA Expands Forecasting and Consulting Services with New Hires

BIA
(Image credit: BIA)

CHANTILLY, Va.—BIA Advisory Services has added three key personnel to augment its forecasting and consulting divisions. 

The new hires include Nicole Ovadia being named BIA’s new vice president of forecasting and analysis, Leyla Chatti joining as a senior media analyst and Mark Dugan becoming director of data insights and client relations.

In her new role at BIA Ovadia will focus on enhancing BIA’s U.S. local media advertising forecast models and to support strategic and financial consulting projects with insights and analysis on broadcasting, digital trends, and economic impacts.

“BIA’s role as a trusted advisor has been increasing significantly, and I am excited to expand our team to support our efforts for clients,” said Tom Buono, CEO and founder, BIA Advisory Services. “The media marketplace is extremely dynamic and it's incumbent on us to continually challenge ourselves to deliver the best data and insights that help our clients with their goals and priorities. Our new team members have exactly the skill sets necessary to immediately deepen our impact and value to clients.”

Ovadia comes to BIA from the New York State Broadcasters Association (NYSBA) where she had a successful track record advocating for NYC Radio. Prior to that, she spent over 14 years with Emmis Communications at both the corporate level in the Strategy Group focusing on sales and acquisitions and at the local level in New York where she served as vice president customer success.

Over her career, Ovadia has focused on building forecast models, implementing process improvements, and building partnerships with clients. These will all be areas she will focus on at BIA. In addition to her role in forecasting, Ovadia will be leading enhanced initiatives to develop recommendations and conclusions based on forecasted outcomes and will work with the forecasting team to develop and share custom analyses with clients. Ovadia possesses a B.S. degree in Economics from Wharton and an MBA from MIT Sloan. She will be based in New York City.

BIA also announced that Leyla Chatti has joined as a senior media analyst and Mark Dugan as director of data insights and client relations.

Chatti comes to BIA from Warner Brothers Digital where she worked in the business intelligence area analyzing and reporting audience insights to global leadership. Prior to that, she was a client insights analyst for the financial services area at Comscore. At BIA, Chatti will do qualitative and quantitative research and use BIA’s advertising forecast to develop custom strategic business insights for clients. She will also be focused on business vertical analysis by media channel. Chatti earned her B.A. from the University of Virginia. Chatti will be based in Washington, DC.

Dugan comes to BIA from Sinclair Broadcasting, where he was a research director for WPGH-TV in Pittsburgh. In this role, Dugan worked regularly with Nielsen, Scarborough, Media Audit, and Kantar Research to develop customized client-centric presentations and assist sales management to better position the station. He also trained sales staff in projection and estimate techniques. Dugan has also been an account executive at Raycom Media and Research Director at Granite Broadcasting. Dugan will be based in Pittsburg, PA.

At BIA, Dugan will use his industry experience to help clients use BIA data and research effectively and efficiently. Mark has his MBA with a concentration in Marketing and a BA in Psychology from the University of Rochester.

Ovadia, Chatti, and Dugan have started in their positions at BIA. 

George Winslow

George Winslow is the senior content producer for TV Tech. He has written about the television, media and technology industries for nearly 30 years for such publications as Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and TV Tech. Over the years, he has edited a number of magazines, including Multichannel News International and World Screen, and moderated panels at such major industry events as NAB and MIP TV. He has published two books and dozens of encyclopedia articles on such subjects as the media, New York City history and economics.