Tim Mahlman, head of AOL’s publisher tools, takes charge of the company’s ad-tech business too

AOL executive Tim Mahlman is getting a promotion.

The titles might not sound all that different — Mahlman was previously AOL’s president of publisher platforms, and now he’s president of AOL platforms. But this means he’s in charge both of AOL’s suite of publisher tools (which it’s built through the acquisition of companies like Gravity and Millennial Media) and of its advertising technology.

In Mahlman’s words, he’s become “the one point person” who can bring together the supply and demand side of AOL’s ad business.

“I think it’s a matter of focus,” he said when asked to explain what’s changing. “Before this, you had a demand leader and you had a publisher leader, with separate reporting lines. By now having me in this role, it’s all living under one umbrella.”

AOL (which owns TechCrunch, and is now owned by Verizon) previously brought together its programmatic ad technology in the One by AOL platform, then did the same thing on the publisher side by a launching One by AOL: Publishers.

Mahlman joined AOL through the acquisition of video syndication company Vidible, and he said his aim is to run his part of the company “as if it were a startup.”  His promotion follows the departure of AOL President Bob Lord last year.

AOL is also promoting Matt Gillis to become senior vice president of publisher platforms and Jay Seideman to become senior vice president of advertising platforms — Seideman and Gillis will report to Mahlman, who will report to AOL CEO Tim Armstrong.