Honorees Lauded for Exemplary Work That Propels the Interactive Advertising Industry Forward
PALM DESERT, CA (January 24, 2016) — Tonight the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) revealed the winners of the 2016 IAB Sales & Service Excellence Awards at the start of the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting, held at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa in Palm Desert, CA. The IAB Sales Excellence Awards acknowledge individuals and organizations that have demonstrated exemplary leadership and achievements in digital advertising sales. IAB Service Excellence Awards recognize members’ exceptional contributions to IAB industry initiatives over the past year.
2016 IAB Sales Excellence Awards
The IAB Sales Excellence Awards program is under the purview of the IAB Sales Executive Council that works in tandem with Media Intelligence Firm and Advertiser Perceptions, Inc. to identify which particular skills and achievements should be measured and honored for the awards. Advertiser Perceptions then sends out a two-part customer feedback survey, which serves to identify the sales organizations and individuals that the ad buying community believes excel.
Over 560 agency and marketing executives responded to the questionnaire, representing a broad cross-section of verticals, including Automotive, CPG, Financial, Retail, and Travel. Each individual respondent spent at least $1 million on interactive advertising during the last year.
2016 IAB Sales Excellence Awards Winners are:
- Overall Sales Excellence for a Small to Medium Size Sales Organization: Centro
- Overall Sales Excellence for a Large Sales Organization: Pandora
- Leadership through Mentoring: Andrew Gottlieb, Senior Director, Global Agency Development, Yahoo
- Sales Person of the Year:
- East Coast: Ben Hsi, Agency Lead, Google
- West Coast: Kelly Ciccone, Account Executive, Google
- Central: Matt Frey, Account Executive, Hulu
- South: William Tabler, Account Executive, Turner Ad Sales
“The IAB Sales Excellence Awards identify industry leaders who have achieved noteworthy success selling digital advertising,” said Sherrill Mane, Senior Vice President, Research, Analytics, and Measurement, IAB. “They are celebrated today for their talent and acute understanding of how to create advertising solutions that meet the demands of media buyers and marketers within an ever-evolving digital landscape.”
2016 IAB Service Excellence Awards
The IAB Service Excellence Awards recognize select IAB members for their exemplary contributions and influence on IAB initiatives over the past year. The winners are nominated by IAB staff and voted on by the committees, councils, and working groups.
“We are proud to honor the 2016 IAB Service Excellence Awards recipients and recognize their work in shaping and defining IAB initiatives through collaboration and leadership within their committees, councils, task forces, advisory boards, or working groups,” said Joe Lazlo, Vice President, Industry Initiatives, IAB. “Their commendable efforts and service have helped further establish best practices and guidelines that continue to guide our industry and define our members as digital media and marketing leaders.”
2016 IAB Service Excellence Awards Winners are:
- Vasu Cherlopalle, Director of Technology, PubMatic, for his key role on the Mobile Creative QA App Working Group and work leading to the app’s alpha release
- Ben Darr, Co-Founder, Brandtale, for his active and constructive participation in the Content Marketing Task Force, specifically his collaborative efforts on the In-Feed Advertising (Native) Disclosure Practice Report
- Melody Dekel , former Director of Marketing and Business Development, my6sense, for her contributions to the In-Feed Deep Dive document, including the creation of the included infographic that helps visualize the advice in the Deep Dive
- Lucas Dickey, Vice President, Product, Thinknear by Telenav, for his active participation in ideation and writing for the Mobile Programmatic Playbook
- Chris Gordon, Senior Director, Product Management, Xumo, for his contribution on the DV In-Stream Ad Formats Working Group and bringing marketplace practices and deep technical knowledge to the table
- Cory Hudson, formerly Senior Director, Creative Technology, AOL; currently Vice President, Product and Business Development, BannerWave, for his leadership on the HTML5 Best Practices Task Force and guidance in releasing the HTML5 Guide 2.0
- Curt Larson, Vice President, Product Management, Sharethrough, for his leadership within the OpenRTB Native Subgroup. He spearheaded the development of two new fields within the OpenRTB native addendum and drafted many of the 1.1 updates
- Kym Nelson, Senior Vice President, Sales, Twitch, for her role as Co-Chair on the Games Committee and instrumental leadership and preparation of the IAB Game Advertising Ecosystem Guide
- Ned Newhouse, Executive Director, Mobile and Native, Condé Nast, for his leadership of the Tablet Committee and his instrumental role as chief instigator of IAB’s Tablet Playbook, specifically helping the working group define the scope of work and goals
- Amanda Roever, Senior Product Manager, BrightRoll, for significant work in drafting of the document that formed the foundation of the IAB’s Video Addendum to MRAID
- Danny Roosevelt, Product Manager, BrightRoll, for his outstanding leadership in drafting and refining the IAB’s Video Addendum to MRAID, a very important advancement in enabling interstitial video placements in mobile apps
- Steven Suthiana, Global Head, Digital Media and Operations, Mansueto Ventures, Publisher of Fast Company and Inc. Magazines, for his participation on the Display Creative Guidelines Working Group and his efforts on the recently revised HTML5 guidelines
- Todd Thorpe, Senior Vice President, Global Government Affairs, News Corp, for his superior contribution to the IAB Public Policy Council and work to develop an international policy agenda that coordinates the legislative and regulatory needs of the industry across the globe
- Ian Trider, RTB Platform Manager, Centro, for his work developing several features for OpenRTB 2.4, most notably standardizing video skippability within the spec
- Michael Tuminello, Director, Product, Innovid, for his outstanding leadership in drafting and refining the IAB’s Video Addendum to MRAID, a very important advancement in enabling interstitial video placements in mobile apps
- Jay Widlitz, Co-Founder, Brandtale, for his participation in the Content Marketing Task Force, specifically his collaborative efforts on the In-Feed Advertising (Native) Disclosure Practice Report
- Kayla Wilson, Senior Partner Manager, Global Alliances and Programmatic, InMobi, for her leadership in drafting the In-Feed Ads Deep Dive: A Supplement to the Native Advertising Playbook
- Kristin Wnuk, Director, Local Sales, Eastern Region, Hulu, for her role in creating and producing the IAB Local Buyer’s Guide
About IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. It is comprised of more than 650 leading media and technology companies that are responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital advertising or marketing campaigns. Together, they account for 86 percent of online advertising in the United States. Working with its member companies, the IAB develops technical standards and best practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising, while also educating brands, agencies, and the wider business community on the importance of digital marketing. The organization is committed to professional development and elevating the knowledge, skills, expertise, and diversity of the workforce across the industry. Through the work of its public policy office in Washington, D.C., the IAB advocates for its members and promotes the value of the interactive advertising industry to legislators and policymakers. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City and has a West Coast office in San Francisco.
IAB Media Contact
Laura Goldberg
347.683.1859
[email protected]