He bet on digital tools, hiring a chief digital officer from Argos, the British retailer.
See previous articles on Chief Digital Officers and hiring digital consultancies.
Chalk up another coup for digital media hiring as the media company mitú, focused on digitally distributed content for Hispanic audiences, has managed to score the longtime entertainment executive Herb Scannell as its new chief executive.
He addressed SunTrust's fragmented approach to digital by hiring business segment Chief Technology Officers, a Chief Data Officer, and an enterprise-level Chief Digital Officer, all of which reported to him as CIO.
They drew the attention of many in the media industry by pledging to beef up the investment in print papers rather than digital operations, hiring about 175 new reporters and editors at the Orange County Register and purchasing the Riverside Press-Enterprise in 2013.
This, in turn, creates jobs and value to the economy: digital employers hire 15% more people on average than those who are not digital.
Hall has also brought in former Labour culture secretary James Purnell as director of strategy and digital, and hired Channel 4 chief operating officer Anne Bulford as managing director, finance and operations.
Hall said Bulford, appointed to the new role of managing director, finance and operations, and Purnell, the BBC's new director of strategy and digital, were hired in "exceptional circumstances" at a time when the BBC "was in some crisis".
Gates, who insisted that the course include a strong digital component, hired a team of engineers and designers to develop a website that would serve as an electronic textbook, brimming with interactive graphics and videos.
Digital Eyecandy hired approximately twenty animators that had previously been employed by ImagineAsia and at one point, the studio reached fifty employees.
