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Joanne Bradford has made a lot of career moves in recent memory. She was once Corporate VP of Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, then climbed up the ladder to Chief Media Officer and Corporate Vice President of MSN. Earlier this year, Bradford left Microsoft for an enticing job with Spot Runner as Executive Vice President.

Apparently an offer from Yahoo! was even more enticing, however, because she has just signed on as their senior vice president of U.S. Revenue and Market Development. In her new job, she will oversee sales and market development for advertisers, small business, and Yahoo! HotJobs, reporting to U.S. Yahoo! Executive Vice President Hilary Schneider.

Yahoo! Sings Praise for Bradford

"Joanne's deep understanding of the marketplace coupled with her proven ability to package and deliver results-driven solutions for the world's biggest brands will help Yahoo!'s customers connect with the audiences they most want to reach not just on Yahoo!, but across the web," says Schneider.

Yahoo! President Sue Decker seems pretty excited about the company's recent addition as well. "We are thrilled to have an executive of Joanne's caliber to lead Yahoo! through to the next phase of its growth," says Decker. "Yahoo! and Joanne have a shared mindset about the strategic role that Yahoo! and online marketing can play to both build leading brands and drive customer acquisition for the world's leading marketers."

Yahoo!'s Best Days?

Yahoo! has not had its biggest amount of success in recent years, but that doesn't seem to be a problem to Bradford. "I am convinced that the very best days for this company are ahead, and I want to leverage my experience in programming, distribution, and selling to help Yahoo! take this business to the next level."

I wonder if the famous (or infamous depending on how you want to look at it) Google/Yahoo! deal might have anything to do with her astonishingly positive outlook. She better hope that the Department of Justice lets it go through. Otherwise, those "very best" days might be behind Yahoo! after all.

Google by the way, has already said that they will go forward with the deal next month if the Department doesn't stop them by then. Meanwhile, the Department has just gotten around to hiring an antitrust lawyer. It doesn't seem like the case has been a top priority for the Department, so perhaps Bradford's optimism isn't too misguided.