Yahoo hires former National Geographic photographer to take over Flickr

Yahoo's new CEO, Marissa Mayer, is in the process of cleaning house and turning the company around. Obviously, this involves giving employees and other chiefs some bad news, but in turn it allows the company to bring in some fresh faces to hopefully bring Yahoo out of a rut. One of the new folks is a former National Geographic photographer who will now be in charge of Flickr.

Adam Cahan has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Emerging Products and Technology. This means he'll be in charge of Yahoo's mobile efforts, as well as Flickr. In an internal memo sent out on October 25, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer notes that Cahan will report directly to Mayer and will be responsible for building a team that will focus on creating and improving various products.

"To aid our efforts, I'm promoting Adam Cahan to lead this effort as Senior Vice President of Emerging Products and Technology. Adam will be a member of e-staff and report directly to me. He will oversee our mobile efforts, enabled screens (CTV+IntoNow), and Flickr. Adam will be responsible for building a world-class team focused on creating innovative products and experiences that inspire and delight our users worldwide."

Cahan was previously the founder and CEO of IntoNow, a flourishing startup company that Yahoo acquired last year for somewhere between $20 to $30 million. Cahan is also quite familiar with the world of photography. Before entering the corporate world, Cahan was a National Geographic wildlife photographer who has contributed his work to multiple Emmy award-winning documentaries about Africa.

Marissa Mayer came to Yahoo with an iron fist, and she seems to be stone-cold serious about her plans to turn the company around. It's nice that Flickr will be in the hands of an actual photographer who may have some insight on how to improve the service. It may not improve drastically, but it'll be nice to know that the head behind Flickr will do what's actually best for the service and its users.

[via San Jose Business Journal]