Hawkins replaces chief marketing officer Neil Sansom, who left Freeserve to join the oil giant Shell.
At AOL UK, Hawkins was responsible for all aspects of marketing for the company's online services, including AOL, CompuServe and Netscape Online. He led the consumer marketing for the launch of flat-rate access pricing and relaunched the AOL ISP brands, focusing on specific market segments. He left AOL in January, following a management reshuffle.
Freeserve was owned by retail group Dixons until December last year when French media company Wanadoo bought it for £1.65bn in cash and shares.
It is understood that a new marketing campaign for Freeserve is in the works.