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IAB Announces 2017 Sales & Service Excellence Awards Winners

Individuals and Publisher Members Honored for Leadership in Digital Media Sales & for Contributions to IAB Initiatives in Mobile, Video and Emerging Formats

HOLLYWOOD, FL (January 29, 2017) — IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) announced the winners of the 2017 IAB Sales & Service Excellence Awards during an opening night ceremony at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting, taking place at the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida. The IAB Sales Excellence Awards recognize the individuals and member companies that have demonstrated the highest levels of customer service, knowledge, and innovation in digital advertising sales. The IAB Service Awards honor those individuals at IAB member companies who have made exceptional contributions to IAB initiatives over the past year.

2017 IAB Sales Excellence Awards

Working hand-in-hand with IAB, Advertiser Perceptions identified which particular skills and achievements should be measured and honored for the awards. Advertiser Perceptions then developed and sent out a two-part customer feedback survey, which served to pinpoint the sales organizations and individuals that the ad buying community believes excel.

Over 575 agency and marketing executives answered the questionnaire, nominating and then voting on the best sales teams and individuals across four main categories—large organization, small-to-medium sales organization, leadership through mentoring, and sales person of the year in four key U.S. regions. Respondents represented companies that spent at least $1 million on interactive advertising during the last year.

2017 IAB Sales Excellence Awards Winners are:

  • Overall Sales Excellence for a Large Sales Organization: Hulu
  • Overall Sales Excellence for a Small-to-Medium Sales Organization: MaxPoint
  • Leadership through Mentoring: Jim Lecinski, Google
  • Sales Person of the Year:
    • East Coast: Sarah Potts, AOL
    • West Coast: Chris Robertiello, Google
    • Central: Shannen Gillespie, ESPN
    • South: Anna Baldwin, Pandora

“We salute this year’s recipients of the IAB Sales Excellence Awards, who have earned the respect of the digital media industry through their great success in digital advertising sales,” said David Doty, Executive Vice President and CMO, IAB. “These companies and individuals provided brand marketers with valuable solutions for connecting with their customers as they move across digital screens.”

2017 IAB Service Excellence Awards

The IAB Service Excellence Awards honor individuals from IAB member companies for their noteworthy contributions and thought leadership on IAB and IAB Tech Lab initiatives over the past year. Members of the 20 IAB committees, councils, and working groups choose the winners based on nominations made by IAB staff.

“We are proud to applaud these leaders—each providing significant guidance and individual resources to initiatives that have fostered the growth of the interactive advertising industry,” said Anna Bager, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Mobile and Video, IAB. “Their outstanding service will shape the future of the digital media and marketing in mobile, virtual reality, gaming, messaging, and more.”

2017 IAB Service Excellence Awards Winners are:

  • Kevin Ching, Vice President, Product Management, NinthDecimal, for his significant input toward the publication of the “Mobile Location Data Guide for Publishers,” which provides comprehensive information for publishers looking to tap into the power of geo-marketing.
  • Adam Cohen-Aslatei, Senior Director of Marketing, Jun Group, for his contributions in defining the terminologies and providing meaningful feedback in the final draft of the “IAB Mobile App Marketing Glossary.”
  • Rick Erwin, President, Audience Solutions, Acxiom, for his direction and instrumental involvement leading to the formation of the IAB Data Center of Excellence.
  • Dan Feldstein, Head of Marketing, Medialets, for his leadership of the IAB Mobile Identity Working Group, as well as his contributions in defining the scope of “Mobile Identity for Marketers: A Best Practices Primer for Mobile & Cross-Device Marketing.”
  • Rhett Frandsen, Senior Director, R&D Business Strategy, Rubicon Project, for his outstanding contributions on “Marketing in the Messaging Space,” encapsulating the expanding messaging landscape and its opportunities for advertisers.
  • Vikas Gupta, Vice President of Strategy and Interim Head of Marketing, Factual, for his leadership in producing the publication of the “Mobile Location Data Guide for Publishers,” which provides comprehensive information for publishers looking to tap into the power of geo-marketing.
  • Ariane Gut, Head of Insights and Analytics, Tremor Video, for her insightful research on mobile video advertising, contributing to the study “Multiscreen Video Best Practices: Understanding the Next Wave of Video Ad Receptivity.”
  • Ryan McConville, President and Chief Operating Officer, Kargo, for his thought leadership and creative perspective on ways to improve the user experience and serve today’s liquid consumer as captured in the whitepaper “Improving Digital Advertising Experiences with Liquid Creativity.”
  • Ariel Shimoni, Director of Virtual Reality, StartApp, for his insights into VR and 360-degree video analytics that were instrumental in the development of the IAB VR market snapshot report, “Is Virtual the New Reality.”
  • Joe Zawadzki, CEO, MediaMath, for his vital leadership in the formation of the IAB Data Center of Excellence.

“The IAB Tech Lab Service Excellence Award winners responded to the industry’s call for intelligent, innovative leadership to help guide the next wave of digital advertising technology,” said Alanna Gombert, Senior Vice President, Technology and Ad Operations, IAB, and General Manager, IAB Tech Lab.

2017 IAB Tech Lab Service Excellence Awards Winners are:

  • Amy Cerrito, Senior Manager, Ad Technology, CBS Interactive, for her consistent and meaningful contributions in creating the “Publisher Ad Blocking Primer,” from initial ideation through refinement and final editing.
  • Sarah Kirtcheff, Director, Technology Services–Midwest, Flashtalking, for her outstanding leadership in drafting the Flash to HTML5/JavaScript migration paper and checklists, which are key to helping the industry adopt HTML5.
  • Gasper Kozak, Director Engineering, Ad Delivery, Celtra, for his leadership on MRAID 3.0, in particular his work in developing the viewability solution and defining key features for user experience, pre-loading, and ad readiness.
  • John Kuo, Director Product, Spongecell, for his leadership in defining, developing, and testing the Dynamic Ad Standards, and his contributions in writing the schema.
  • Jay Lieske, Mobile Software Architect and Manager, Google, for his outstanding contributions on the development of MRAID 3.0, specifically for providing data, technical details, and other features to improve user experience.
  • Sam Lo, Director of Mobile Creative Technology, Flashtalking, for his important contributions to the IAB Flex Ads Working Group, including efforts in developing the flex ad sizing grid, as well as his guidance on determining asset weights and sample ads for testing.
  • Ketaki Rao, Vice President, Product, Jivox, for her vital contributions in developing and defining the schema for the IAB Dynamic Ad Standards.
  • James Reetzke, Senior Software Engineer, Visible Measures, for his contributions in developing testing for the Open VV code base, and his leadership on developing the intersection observer-based technology release to support HTML5.
  • Paul Vincent, CEO, Flexitive, for his leadership of the IAB Flex Ads Working Group and efforts in defining flex ad sizing and LEAN guidance for the IAB New Ad Portfolio.
  • Jarred Wilichinsky, Vice President, Video Monetization and Operations, CBS Interactive, for his outstanding leadership in drafting the VAST 4.0 specification to improve the support for server-side ad insertion in video advertising.

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]