Horizon Media just made a heavyweight move in the media tech arms race. The largest independent media agency in the U.S.—and the world—is beefing up its AI and data muscle with a trio of seasoned tech execs, all aimed at accelerating development of its AI-native marketing platform, Blu.

This isn't about playing catch-up. It's Horizon planting a flag: the traditional agency model isn’t just outdated—it’s being dismantled in real time.

Meet the New Architects of AI-Led Media

To reshape how marketers navigate the increasingly complex media landscape, Horizon has appointed:

• Krish Kuruppath as EVP, Head of Tech

• Jeremy Flynn as EVP, Head of Product

• Allan Johnston as SVP, Head of Program Management

All three report to Domenic Venuto, Chief Product & Data Officer, and their collective brief is clear: reimagine Horizon’s tech stack for a media world driven by AI, first-party data, and high-performance marketing intelligence.

A Platform Built for Marketers, Not Just Media Buyers

At the center of this push is Blu, Horizon’s AI-native integrated marketing platform—open, extensible, and designed to simplify what’s become a tangle of martech complexity. With this leadership team in place, Horizon is turning Blu into more than a platform; it's shaping it into the nerve center of next-gen media orchestration.

President Bob Lord didn’t mince words: “The marketing landscape demands more than incremental improvements… we’re helping clients simplify their martech stack with unprecedented confidence and transparency.” Translation: The agency-client dynamic is overdue for a rewrite—and AI is holding the pen.

Who’s Who in Horizon’s AI Power Play

Krish Kuruppath, formerly of Epsilon, brings deep expertise in identity resolution, clean rooms, and machine learning at scale—experience vital to Blu’s ambitions. At Epsilon, he helped architect platforms that married big data with high-touch personalization, a combination now considered table stakes in customer engagement.

Jeremy Flynn, best known for launching Clear Channel Outdoor’s RADAR analytics platform, knows how to build product roadmaps that actually land. Under his leadership, RADAR didn’t just measure OOH campaigns—it redefined what attribution could look like in physical media.

Allan Johnston rounds out the trio with a boots-on-the-ground operations mindset, forged at DEPT, Razorfish, and tech disruptors like WeWork. His knack for scaling agile teams and delivering in high-stakes environments makes him the program manager every product org wishes it had.

Why This Move Matters

Horizon’s strategy reflects a larger shift happening across media agencies: data-driven creativity is no longer optional—it’s the battlefield. While holding companies are consolidating and reshuffling their stacks (looking at you, WPP and Publicis), independents like Horizon are building from the ground up with AI at the core.

That’s a bold bet, but one that might pay off as marketers demand simpler, smarter tools that free them from vendor sprawl. With Blu, Horizon is trying to be the one ring to rule them all—at least when it comes to media intelligence, campaign execution, and measurable outcomes.

As AI transforms what’s possible in personalization and performance marketing, the firms that invest in engineering-led leadership now will likely set the pace. Horizon’s hires signal it's not just watching this trend—it wants to define it.

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