-By Katy Bachman

As part of JiWire’s plans to grow its local-based Wi-Fi ad network, the company announced Wednesday (Oct. 21) it named David Courtney its first chief executive officer.

In his new position, Courtney will work with Kevin McKenzie, JiWire’s founder and president, to accelerate JiWire’s business in the U.S. and expand overseas.

Most recently an executive-in-residence at Venrock, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, Courtney has also held management positions at Adify and TiVo. As president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Adify, he helped guide and manage the company’s acquisition in 2008 by Cox Enterprises. At TiVo he is credited with growing the company from its preproduct phase in 1995 to 5 million subscribers. Prior to TiVo, Courtney was a managing director at J.P. Morgan’s high technology group.

“Dave adds deep financial and operational experience in the media and technology markets to the team at JiWire,” said McKenzie. “Looking ahead at our ambitious plans for growth, I recognize that a strong partner is the key to creating a winning team.”

The first company to use Wi-Fi Internet access as a platform for advertising, JiWire recently announced plans to launch the world’s first-ever, in-flight ad-supported Wi-Fi service.

JiWire’s current network reaches the login-in pages of 30,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in cafes, hotels and airports.