Scott Howe, a former executive at Microsoft, was introduced as the new CEO of Acxiom at a press conference at the company's headquarters on East 3rd Street in Little Rock. ( David Harten

 Little Rock-based Acxiom Corp. said Wednesday that it has chosen a former Microsoft leader as its new chief executive.

Scott E. Howe, the new chief executive, was a corporate vice president at Microsoft Advertising Business Groups. He’s replacing John Meyer, who left as Acxiom’s chief executive in March.

"It's a really exciting day for me, both in terms of the opportunity at hand, but even moreso the opportunity to work with such a talented organization," Howe said. "I've admired Acxiom from afar for the last decade, and it's impossible to be in the marketing business and not know Acxiom. And I've always been impressed with just the incredible client roster that they have."

Howe is a former corporate vice president of Microsoft Advertising Business Groups, a former corporate officer at aQuantive and worked for The Boston Consulting Group and for Kidder, Peabody & Company, Inc.

"There is interesting conversation going on in the marketing world, we want Acxiom to be part of that conversation," Howe said. "And when we share our success stories about marketing, we want Acxiom to be leading that discussion."

Acxiom said Howe was a unanimous choice of the board because of his experience in professional services and global online advertising.

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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