CollegeHumor co-founder takes Facebook creative role

Ricky Van Veen, the co-founder of IAC/InterActiveCorp-owned comedy site CollegeHumor, is moving to Facebook to become head of global creative strategy.

Announcing the move in a Facebook post, Van Veen said that he will work with creators and organisations to help them to post “engaging and meaningful content” to the world’s biggest social network.

“In terms of Facebook’s opportunity to leverage great content (specifically video) to the right audiences, things are just getting started,” he said.

Van Veen co-founded CollegeHumor along with video site Vimeo and T-shirt store BustedTees. All three sites were acquired by IAC in 2006 when it bought a controlling stake in parent company Connected Ventures.

Since the takeover, Van Veen has helped to grow the CollegeHumor site, which IAC says attracts more than twelve million unique users every month. He also helped to launch multiple other projects at IAC, including Notional in 2009, a New York-based production company that creates TV content.

“As of this summer, I’ll have clocked an even decade working at IAC since they acquired our companies in 2006. It’s been even longer since I coded the original CollegeHumor website while a weirdo freshman in an unkempt dorm,” said Van Veen.

“Aside from my high school dishwashing days, this has been the only job I’ve ever had. So while I don’t have much to compare it to, I imagine it’s been about as fulfilling as a job can be.”

The news comes a day after Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor announced he is stepping down from the IAC-owned video site after four years in the job.

Trainor said in an email to staff that he has decided to “step back from Vimeo” and plans to “live life for a bit while working with a few companies as a board member until I’m ready to announce my next full time project”.