RealNetworks named Thomas Nielsen CEO on Nov. 1.

RealNetworks announced Tuesday it has named Thomas Nielsen president and CEO.

Nielsen, who was most recently vice president of the Digital Imaging Group at Adobe Systems, will take the reins from interim CEO Mike Lunsford on Nov. 9.

"I am honored to be joining RealNetworks, an industry pioneer in digital media applications and services," Nielsen said in a statement. "While there's a lot of work to do, RealNetworks has incredible and unique assets upon which to build, including a very talented team."

During his seven years at Adobe, Nielsen was responsible for the business unit that includes Photoshop, Elements and Lightroom. Nielsen also spent five years working in digital media at Microsoft prior to joining Adobe in 2004.

"Thomas is a terrific product executive who has also demonstrated exceptional business and leadership skills," said RealNetworks founder Rob Glaser. "He's a perfect fit to take RealNetworks into the future. We will leverage Thomas' extensive background in customer-driven product strategy and delivery to ensure RealNetworks' strategic plan is focused and optimized for growth."

Lunsford, who has served as interim CEO since March, will remain with Real as executive vice president. Lunsford stepped into the role after former CEO Robert Kimball resigned seven months ago.

Kimball was responsible for restructuring the digital media company, a 15-month process that included shedding unprofitable product lines, spinning off its music subscription business, and cutting the jobs of one-quarter of its executives.

Real is one of the pioneers of digital information such as music and movies on the internet. But the company has struggled as it has made the transition from creating content to focusing on technologies for distributing and managing media among different types of devices.

Real has seen a couple quarters of declining revenues, but expects to see revenues rebound this year as it reap the rewards of new products focused on cloud storage and social games, including its Unifi personal media cloud service and its GameHouse website.

Nielsen said he is excited about the opportunity to lead Real in the "next great chapter in its success."

Nielsen has also been named to Real's board of directors. He will receive an annual salary of $450,000 and a signing bonus of $100,000, according to an SEC filing.