Leadership

Itzhak Fisher serves as Executive Chairman of Nielsen Online, a recently formed division of The Nielsen Company that includes the Nielsen//NetRatings and Nielsen BuzzMetrics businesses. The new entity is an important piece of Nielsen's strategy to provide clients with an understanding of consumer behavior in the Internet and digital audio and video space, as well as integrated online/offline data and insights. Itzhak reports to David Calhoun, Chairman and CEO of The Nielsen Company, and is based in New York.

Itzhak has been a prominent entrepreneur in high-technology businesses for three decades, leading numerous ventures through mergers, acquisitions and initial public offerings. Previously, he was co-founder and chairman of Trendum, a leader in Internet search and linguistic analysis technologies, where he secured The Nielsen Company as a strategic partner. He then oversaw Trendum's 2005 acquisition of BuzzMetrics, a market leader in online word-of-mouth research, and oversaw and negotiated its 2006 acquisition of Intelliseek. He served as chairman of the combined entity, Nielsen BuzzMetrics.

Itzhak also currently serves as Chairman of Churchill Ventures, an Amex-listed special purpose acquisition company. In the 1990s, he founded and served as President and CEO of RSL Communications (NASDAQ: RSLC), a telecommunications firm which operated in 22 countries on four continents and grew to over $1.5 billion in revenues. Recently, he led a private venture capital group through a number of high-tech investments. As founder and Chairman of Infinity Holdings (Cayman) Ltd., he directed the purchase and turnaround of several European telecommunications and Internet firms such as Fin Com and PSINet Europe. 

Itzhak holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from the New York Institute of Technology, and completed advanced studies in computer science at New York University.