AOL Chief Communications Officer Leaves after One Year

By Jennifer Saba in New York | Apr 23, 2014 10:28 AM EDT

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 AOL head of communications Peter Land left the company on Tuesday after a year working there, marking the latest public relations executive to depart the company.

AOL Inc attributed Land's departure to a reorganization of the communications department.

"We are investing in our communications function by promoting two of our most talented up and coming leaders - connecting the entirety of our internal and external communications," an AOL spokeswoman said in a statement.

Eoin Ryan, currently head of investor relations, will become senior vice president of investor relations and communications. Erika Nardini, AOL's chief marketing officer for advertising will handle internal communications.

Land, who joined AOL a year ago from Pepsi and was a senior vice president at AOL, was not immediately available to comment.

During his tenure at the company, Land had to handle a series of high profile missteps by AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong that caused a firestorm on social media and provided days of fodder for talking heads on TV.

Armstrong publicly fired an employee at Patch, a series of hyper local news websites, during a staff meeting and made a misguided remark linking retirement benefit cuts to two employees' "distressed babies.

Land is the third head of communications to leave AOL in 3-1/2 years.

AdAge first reported the news.

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