Reporting to AOL president and chief operating officer Ron Grant, Coleman assumes the post previously held by Lynda Clazirio, the former president of Ad.com, who is understood to be leaving the company, although no further details were available.
Coleman brings more than 25 years of sales and media experience to the role, most recently as president and chief executive of next generation search and ad targeting company NetSeer.
At AOL, Coleman will be responsible for driving branded display sales across the group, which includes media properties AOL.com, AIM, MapQuest and Advertising.com's third-party networks.
He will also take the lead in developing AOL's new business unit, MediaGlow, which aims to centralise its publishing output.
"Greg Coleman is the perfect person to build on the foundation we created at Platform-A and drive branded display sales across our fast-growing MediaGlow programming network," said Randy Falco, chairman and chief executive of AOL.
"Greg's a seasoned sales pro who understands that online brand building is the next frontier in digital advertising, and that whoever can deliver marketers measurably improved branding online will be positioned for long-term success."
Prior to working at NetSeer, Coleman was executive vice-president of global sales at Yahoo, responsible for ad revenue of more than $6bn.
The new president will also be responsible for building AOL's new social media business People Networks, which houses recently purchased UK social network Bebo.
Despite a range of new properties, AOL's ad revenue dropped 18% in 2008, according to JP Morgan.
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