Speakers 2024

Charlene Charles is Dollar General’s head of operations, DG Media
Network.
She joined Dollar General in November of 2021 and brings more than 17
years of consumer-centric experience across brands, retailers and
vendors, from start-ups to mature organizations.
Throughout her career, Charlene has been responsible for leading teams
across multiple disciplines with experience in ad tech, sales, product,
marketing, consulting, commercialization, strategic planning, shopper marketing, PNL management,
measurement, reporting, insights, talent recruitment and people development.
Charlene most recently served as director of commercial operations at Roundel where she established
the commercialization discipline for Target’s retail media network. Prior to that role she held roles of
increasing responsibility with tech start-up Yieldbot before launching her own consulting practice.
Charlene’s career began with various roles over a ten-year period with CPGs, including General Mills and
Kraft Heinz.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas.

Michael Peroutka is Head of Brand & Agency Partnerships at Gopuff Ads. He has over 15 years experience in digital media focused on emerging trends – video, mobile, data driven communities and commerce media. Over the past decade, Michael has consistently driven revenue and product innovation across companies of various sizes and stages – Gopuff, Imgur, Maker Studios/Disney, AOL, Tremor Video – working as both an individual contributor and sales leader. He is passionate about the ever-changing landscape of consumer attention and how brands can win over consumers.

Having started her career in advertising in 1994, Angelina Eng rose to executive leadership roles, significantly influencing the progression of digital media, marketing, ad operations, and analytics. In her pivotal roles at renowned firms such as Morgan Stanley, Merkle, Dentsu, and Publicis, Angelina provided invaluable assistance to over 150 marketers across diverse advertising facets and played a key role in forming some of the industry standards recognized today. 

Currently holding the position of Vice President of the Measurement, Addressability & Data Center at the IAB, Angelina plays a crucial role in defining guidelines and establishing industry standards in the fields of addressability, measurement, and operations. In doing so, she is actively shaping the contemporary landscape of digital advertising.

Before her tenure at IAB, Angelina received notable awards including the AdMonsters 2018 Power List, IAB Data Rockstar 2016, and AdMonsters Digital Media Leadership Award 2016, underlining her significant impact and leadership in the field.

Ed Gentner drives the Biddable and Non-Biddable media investments for Canvas Worldwide clients, including:Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, MGM, McDonald’s, Starz and more. Ed’s passion and knowledge of the ever-evolving media and marketing landscapes has been his trademark in the industry, and for the wide array clients he has guided throughout his career.
The teams Ed has built reflect his same passion and focus, while always taking a client-first approach and ensuring
business goals remain the driver for all media investments.

Lauren Chaplin is a leader in media. She has worked alongside top brand managers and creative executives, honing her negotiating and management skills while rising through the ranks. Lauren touts 18 years of experience on the agency side.  She constantly strives to build proactive, strong relationships with partners, leading to unique and effective solutions for her clients.

Lauren currently leads the investment practice for a beauty retailer, while leaning into initiatives around alternative currency. She continues to lead investment towards a more customized, cross-screen approach, including emerging data-driven opportunities, optimizations, measurement and data transfer. Lauren is a thought leader who continues to play an integral role in first-to-market executions for her clients, embracing a forward-looking approach in an evolving media marketplace.

Jeremy Carey is Chief Investment Officer at Optimum Sports

Jill leads commerce media strategy for Publicis Commerce and has over twenty-five years of experience in the advertising/shopper/media space, spending the past decade in eCommerce.

She started her career in National Brand Media Buying, moving to Account and eventually Agency Leadership, servicing a wide range of marketers, including blue-chip clients such as Frito Lay, Peterbilt Motors and Dell. After 10+ years she made the decision to pivot to Shopper Marketing, understanding the importance to get closer to the sale, and she was driven by a curiosity to see how emerging tech would continue to evolve this part of the industry. She held various leadership roles in Shopper for the better part of a decade, leading all customer-specific initiatives and specializing in all classes of trade.

While most of her background has been on the agency side, in 2013, again following the industry, Jill shifted to Retail Media, and she credits the years spent as VP of Sales for one of the early retailer media networks (MyWebGrocer) as some of her most valuable – understanding both the advertising sales and data platforms, as well as the retailer software side.  She has led various agency teams across many different verticals but driving success for CPG brands like P&G, Tyson, GE, Mars and Hershey’s has been a focused sweet spot (no pun intended).  

She is a multi-Effie and Reggie award winner and has been recognized as a Campaign US 40 over 40 honoree, received the Outstanding Retail Media Contributor Award from IAB and the Path to Purchase Retail Media Award. While she is proud of the accolades that she and her teams have won, she cares most about being #1 mama to her two young daughters.  She resides in New York City but hasn’t let go of her proud Texas roots.

Ying Wang is General Manager, Xumo Advertising at Xumo

Richard Nunn is the Chief Executive Officer for United MileagePlus and brings more than two decades of digital media and data expertise, building and scaling businesses globally whilst working at leading media technology groups at Comcast and Tremor, major advertising agencies spanning the world, as well as having been a media and technology investment banker in London.

Maureen has worked in the Media business for 25+ years as a leader in Strategic Investment guiding both clients and agency teams to driving maximum value in the marketplace.  She has also focused on building relationships with the media partners to better facilitate the negotiations and client’s executions in market.   Maureen began her career as an Assistant Media Buyer in National Broadcast at the inception of IPG’s General Motors MediaWorks buying unit and was quickly promoted to a Buyer overseeing GM’s $300MM+ Sports investments.  Maureen then went to work on the sales side at Discovery Communications as a Sales Planner.  Maureen crafted sales plans and marketing ideas for such clients as Procter & Gamble, Warner Brothers, Universal Studios, Exxon Mobil and M&M Mars.   After Discovery, Maureen went to back to the agency side working at Universal McCann for four years on the Coca-Cola account.  While working on Coca-Cola Maureen ran their high-profile Olympics sponsorship which was more than $100MM in addition to managing their juices and water brands.  Maureen joined Optimedia, NY in April 2004 as a VP, Associate Director in charge of buying for T-Mobile, BMW, ServiceMaster among other brands.  In March of 2010 Maureen was promoted to EVP of the National Video department overseeing the strategic investments across all clients including Pizza Hut, Bridgestone Tires and Liberty Mutual representing billings more than $400MM.   Maureen joined Initiative in February of 2016 as the Chief Partnerships Officer overseeing all investments across the portfolio of clients including Amazon/Amazon Prime Video, T-Mobile, Liberty Mutual, Merck, Gilead, and Lego to name a few.  Maureen currently serves as the Chief Investment Officer at IPG Mediabrands working closely with the agency teams to develop strategic partnerships in the marketplace that yield both efficiencies and impact for clients.   Maureen graduated from Fordham University with a BA in Communications.  As an active member of the media industry Maureen is on the 4 As National Broadcast Committee, IAB Video Board, VOX Media Council and the Sandy Hook Promise Media Advisory Board.In 2010, Maureen was named as one of Broadcasting and Cable’s Next Wave of Leaders.  Maureen was also named one of the 2013 Working Mothers of the Year as selected by She Runs It and in 2013 AdWeek highlighted Maureen as a Media All Star.  Maureen was recently honored by She Runs It for the Changing the Game awards which highlighted her advancements when it comes to more inclusive buying practices.

Motivated by data and her sheer curiosity about the CTV/OTT landscape, Kristin Eardley is the head of programmatic & revenue partnerships at Tastemade, a modern media company whose award-winning lifestyle programming commands a global audience of more than 300 million across all major digital, mobile and streaming television platforms. She is responsible for the development of key programmatic partnerships, strategy, and revenue growth across Tastemade’s global streaming network.

Prior to Tastemade, Kristin brings with her 20+ years of experience in digital client development and ad tech, and has contributed to revenue growth for some of the world’s leading technology companies including Time Inc., Fox Interactive Media, and Yelp.

Evan Hovorka is Vice President of Product & Innovation at Albertsons Media Collective, with responsibilities for building innovative and profitable Marketing technology. A deep understanding of Retail Media, Digital Identify and Ad Tech partnerships define his 20-year career. Previous roles include managing digital media channels for Target and driving Product and Partnerships for Roundel, taking the Retail Media Network from launch to its first Billion-dollar year. Evan designs and builds patented, industry-leading, Products. He is most comfortable collaborating on a white board and takes pride in co-creating new ideas that solve modern problems. His experience with innovation, data, privacy, and business needs is unique in the growing Retail Media sector. He is a strong supporter of diversity and empowerment in the workforce, he has a track record of building high functioning, progressive teams where all are welcome. Evan holds an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science.

Throughout her 5 year tenure at dentsu, Jessie has earned a reputation as a collaborative, honest, and transparent leader, known for consistently providing strategic insights to her clients. Jessie has over 25 years of experience in the advertising industry, and has cultivated a diverse portfolio comprised of linear, digital, barter and video media. Most recently, she served as the VP of Video Investment for Carat, where she oversaw investment strategy and implementation across a portfolio of 8 categories and 35+ brands. Jessie is a champion for others and is passionate about empowering her team to share their creative ideas with clients. She is a founding and active member of dentsu’s Internal Currency and Measurement Task Force, a member of the Joint Industry Committee (JIC), and a member of the Pipeline Project. She is passionate about DE&I and worked  on “More Than That with Gia Peppers,” an audio series created by dentsu to address the inequities in the advertising supply chain and elevate voices across Black America. Jessie’s work is decorated with a mirage of awards including recent wins for her work and leadership on client accounts at the Carat Global Awards and at the Carat Diamond Award Show. Jessie has been a competitive athlete for her whole life, and utilizes the skills she learned as an athlete to her advantage in her career including work ethic, balance, teamwork, and how to cope with both success and defeat.

Ryan Webber is the VP of Sales and Client Success at Loblaw Advance, the retail media network of Loblaws Companies Limited. He is a dynamic business leader with a remarkable track record of over 20 years in sales, marketing, media, and executive management roles. As a visionary and passionate professional, Ryan’s career spans across diverse industries, including media, technology and telecommunications. With a unique blend of strategic acumen, emotional intelligence, and an unwavering commitment to fostering a culture of empathy and inclusivity, he has consistently driven exceptional results throughout his career.

Kathryn Mazza is SVP of RedMedia at Hy-Vee.

Mary Ann Reilly is CMO, North America at Visa Inc. She is responsible for driving all aspects of Visa’s consumer and client marketing in the United States and Canada, including building brand preference, performance marketing, digital marketing, sponsorship activations, client marketing and consumer-driven efforts.

Reilly joined Visa from American Express, where she most recently served as the Senior Vice President, Global Brand, Integration and Insights. Reilly worked at American Express for more than 25 years, during that time she oversaw key marketing priorities including customer acquisition, business alliances, co-brand partnerships and membership rewards. Reilly was also instrumental in driving the business development and marketing for American Express’s small business brand, OPEN, establishing Small Business Saturday as a national movement that supports local small businesses.

Reilly has received several industry accolades, including Working Mother of the Year from Working Mothers Magazine in 2014, “Best Marketers” from B2B Magazine in 2013 and “Top 25 Marketers” from B2B Magazine in 2012.

Michelle Weiskittel is the Head of Media, Creative and Operations at Albertsons Media Collective, where she and her team build media and content solutions by utilizing insights and targeting tied to business objectives.

A passion for performance-based media and omni-channel purchase behaviors, Michelle brings deep expertise in influencing basket and product level sales for brands through her agency and Albertsons Companies marketing experience. Over the last two years, she has used this knowledge to prioritize foundational capabilities for Albertsons Media Collective.

Prior to her time at Albertsons Media Collective, Michelle was a Digital Marketing Director for Albertsons and Safeway. With 20+ years of experience in media and a proven history in advancing digital media strategy through consumer insights, targeting, content, ad product innovation, and measurement, Michelle is an industry veteran. She is a 2015 recipient of Brand Innovators Top 40 under 40 award.

Michelle holds a bachelor’s degree in Managerial Economics from the University of California Davis.

Brittany Mohr (she/her) is the Senior Director of Enterprise Ad Sales at DoorDash, where she leads both the CPG and restaurant ad sales teams. Brittany has a proven track record of building successful growth partnerships and building sales teams from her time at Pinterest and Meta. Brittany is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. She lives in Pennsylvania with her fiance, Tommy, and their dog, Mack.

Michael Krans is Head of Macy’s Media Network at Macy’s.

Michael Piner is a seasoned media executive and visionary leader with 26 years of big NYC agency experience.  He’s one of the leading voices when it comes to the new TV model and an early pioneer in driving the development of advanced advertising capabilities industrywide.  As a result, he was named Ad Age’s 2020 Media Planner of the Year for using next gen-data and technology to break media investment boundaries. Michael specializes in large multi-brand advertisers across major categories such as Automotive, Entertainment, CPG, and Restaurants.  Prior to joining Mediahub, he was SVP of Strategic Investment for Magna Global.  In this role, he drove IPG Mediabrands aggregated investment strategy, negotiation, and partnership management across IPG’s portfolio of agencies, advertisers and brands.  In addition to the above, Michael is a frequent visionary voice on media industry panels, discussions, videos, and press interviews.  He currently represents IPG Mediabrands on the recently formed Joint Industry Committee (JIC) to advance the standardization of alternative video currencies and the Go Addressable industry initiative to accelerate the growth of addressable TV.  He also sits on several video partner advisory boards and is and an active IAB member.

Jay Chen is the Head of Ads Global Partner Development at eBay, where he spearheads Product and Go-To-Market Partnerships. In his role, Jay’s team facilitates the advancement of Promoted Listings by orchestrating Marketing API integration with exclusive strategic partners on a global scale. With over 11 years of experience in advertising and ad-tech, Jay Chen remains humbled by the opportunity to contribute to this dynamic industry. He is genuinely passionate about cultivating customer-centric experiences and takes great joy in collaborating with partners to create exceptional advertising platforms. Together, they strive to empower mutual sellers on eBay to scale their businesses and thrive.

Rose McGovern is the Head of Programmatic and Digital Ad Sales for DIRECTV Advertising and is responsible for leading the organization’s digital go-to-market strategy, as well as programmatic and digital sales and account management across DIRECTV’s streaming offerings. Prior to that, she held leadership roles in ad operations, digital integrations, and inventory and yield management across all digital products and endpoints. Before DIRECTV Advertising, Rose led Digital Client Success, Ad Operations, and Programmatic Operations at WarnerMedia, where she was part of the team responsible for launching HBO MAX with Ads.

Suzanne oversees agency partnerships at Instacart, the largest grocery technology company in North America. She leads a team focused on developing and deepening relationships across the industry, from media agencies to advertising partners that tap the power of Instacart’s unique retail media data. Previously, Suzanne led digital sales teams at Valassis, focused on enterprise solutions across media, data and measurement for their top CPG and Agency partners. Suzanne has more than 20 years of digital advertising experience at major companies including Microsoft, BabyCenter, Bazaarvoice, and MySpace. She earned her MBA at Fordham University.

As TikTok’s U.S. Head of Retail, Global Business Solutions, Matt is focused on leading a world-class sales team to help brands activate at scale on TikTok and meaningfully engage with the community. He joined the company in 2020, as Head of Central region, where he was responsible for establishing the platform’s midwest operations and leading the strategy and execution of agency and brand direct partnerships.

Prior to TikTok, Matt spent 12 years creating global media solutions and partnerships for both startups and Fortune 500 companies, such as Nextdoor, Twitter, Apple and Disney.

Matt attended The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and currently resides in Chicago.

Benjamin Weisel is the Director of DICK’S Media at DICK’S Sporting Goods.

Leading Commerce Media, Greenwald is responsible for defining, recommending and implementing strategic solutions for Night Market clients. As a thoughtful leader with deep industry experience, Mara leads a multidisciplinary team driving commerce expansion, volumetric, and outcome-based planning.

Mara also leads the Commerce Analytics team to ensure planning outputs create a competitive advantage for clients and build models that are predictive versus reactive, driving results. She is passionate about driving incremental business results for clients with the rapidly growing retail media space.

Mara joins Night Market from Mindshare where she was most recently Managing Director, Commerce & Biddable Media. While there, she built new strategic approaches to retail media planning, increasing sales year-over-year at the Big 5 retailers. Prior to Mindshare, she held various roles in eCommerce, performance media, retail, DTC and shopper investment including across GroupM, Publicis and Omnicom.

Steven Suthiana is a leader in the Mar-Tech, Ad-Tech, Data and Retail Media (Commerce) Network space, where he is currently leading Global Marketing Technology and Innovation at Western Union, responsible for Agency relations in all regions, Data Strategy and Monetization, Ad Product, Marketing Solutions, Platforms and Partnerships. Previously, he was the Head of Strategic Ad & Data Partnerships at Gap, Strategic Growth Office (SGO), GPS Media, where he was responsible for data/audience advertising business and strategy. Steven helped rebuild Newsweek Publishing as the EVP of Strategic Partnerships through its shift of ownership. Prior to, Steven led digital operations and international growth for nine years as the Global Head, Digital Media and Operations at Mansueto Ventures, publisher of Inc. Media and Fast Company. Steven spent some years in ad-tech and broadcast space at NeuLion, where Steven oversaw the digital advertising ecosystem including sales development, account services, and the management of 150+ Collegiate Sports and Entertainment websites. Steven is an active member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), served in the Board of Digital Content Next (DCN), and served in the Global Advisory Board of the Wharton Future of Advertising Program at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Steven studied Biological Sciences at The State University of New York at Buffalo and Psychology of Human Sexuality at City University of New York, The Graduate Center where he was a recipient of Thomas W. Smith Academic Fellowship.

Mark Boidman is a Partner and Head of Global Media at Solomon Partners. With more than 22 years of experience in public and private mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, leveraged financings, private placements and restructurings, Mark has advised clients in industry changing transactions with a combined value exceeding $45 billion. Mark advises companies across the media and technology sectors, including digital media and media and tech services. He is recognized for his expertise in advertising and marketing services-based businesses, mobile, in-store media, retail tech and professional AV, event tech and Out of Home media. Before joining Solomon, Mark was the head of Barclays’ (originally Lehman Brothers) out of home media, TV broadcasting and radio coverage in its Global Technology, Media and Telecom Group. Prior to Lehman Brothers, Mark was an attorney in the M&A Group at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.

A former Amazon, McKinsey, Commerce Hub, WPP and Omnicom C-Level executive, Frank Kochenash is an E-Commerce and Retail Media expert based in Seattle, WA.

With over 2 decades of experience in advertising and technology, Seema Patel is a seasoned media executive with extensive expertise in launching new businesses and supporting multi-platform solutions. She has been the driving force of many new, innovative product rollouts throughout her career and is one of the leading experts in addressable and advanced advertising. Seema has a proven track record in leading high-profile initiatives by bridging strategy with efficient execution to drive scale and revenue growth.

In her last role at TelevisaUnivision, Seema led an enterprise-wide organization responsible for developing proprietary data products that helped drive advanced advertising and support ViX, the world’s largest Spanish-language streaming content offering.

In her previous role at ViacomCBS, Seema served as the internal and external business lead to onboard new addressable inventory sources, broadening the company’s vast portfolio of data driven assets. During her tenure, ViacomCBS built the largest Addressable TV footprint in the country spanning across broadcast and cable in the areas of live linear, VOD & OTT platforms.

Seema was also a key stakeholder in the launch of DIRECTV’s Addressable Advertising platform, playing a critical role in the roll out of the first-to-market STB Addressable Advertising product. She created system solutions and business processes that were unique to the marketplace, which also became benchmarks for others in the industry to emulate. Her technology platform drove double digit, topline revenue growth for the business. She also spearheaded the launch of D2 Media Sales, which was the industry’s first live linear addressable platform for the political marketplace.

Seema is a co-founder of TechBae, a networking organization dedicated to advancing equality by creating meaningful connections and developing opportunities for women across all levels within the ad tech & media landscape. TechBae’s community is comprised of women from over 50+ organizations.

“If you know anything about television, you probably know Alan Wolk.” That’s how Adweek describes the co-founder of leading media analyst firm TVREV and best-selling author of Over The Top. How The Internet Is (Slowly But Surely) Changing The Television Industry.

It’s safe to say that Wolk, a much sought-after writer, speaker and consultant, has established himself as one of the industry’s most influential thought leaders. By focusing on the intersection of streaming and advertising, Wolk—who coined the acronym FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) and his TVREV colleagues have helped make the firm one of the media industry’s go-to resources as it attempts to process the changes brought about by the shift to streaming.

A contributing writer at Forbes, NextTV, StreamTV Insider and other industry news sites, Wolk has been interviewed and quoted by everyone from NPR to The New York Times and is a regular guest on Cheddar TV, offering expert opinion on breaking stories in the media industry.

Justin Sparks is the VP of Business Development for the North America region – focused on new retailer and Ad/Mar tech partnerships for Threefold’s white-labeled, embedded services offering and retailer operations & planning platform, PlanApps.

He has spent the last 15 years building and scaling teams in the performance media space, and the last 10 in Retail Media on the agency and ad tech sides. He has built and managed Account, Sales, Strategy and Partnerships teams over the years focused on enterprise clients.

Before joining Threefold, he built & led the East Coast Commerce teams at Mediavest (now Spark) and was also a board member for Hooklogic and Criteo’s first US hire after their acquisition. Most recently he led the InMobi Americas Strategic Sales org prior to joining Threefold. He is based in New York and spends his free time with his family, traveling, watching the Premier League and cycling.

As the Chief Investment and Activation Officer for dentsu’s media service line, Cara brings together the teams behind all media channels including video, radio, OOH, print, digital and programmatic, paid social, search, and retail media. She also oversees disciplines across brand assurance, economic empowerment, productivity, sports, research and insights, and business transformation and strategy.

Cara has been with dentsu since 2010 and most recently served as Chief Investment Officer where she managed $22B in annual investments for all dentsu’s media clients in the US market, overseeing all US investment activities including publisher direct media, biddable media, research, economic empowerment, productivity and strategic partnerships. She was tasked with maximizing efficiencies for her clients by leveraging the collective buying power of dentsu and delivering innovative solutions that address the changes in the media landscape.

Her media career spans 25+ years, with five years of DTC experience between two of the biggest Pharmaceutical Companies (Pfizer and Glaxo SmithKline). Cara also has a strong background in packaged goods and retail, working on the SC Johnson and Sears business for over nine years, as well as a handful of travel accounts. Her past agency experience includes MediaEdge, TN, Initiative, and MPG.

Cara was named as Cynopsis’ Top Women in Media in 2020 as an Industry Leader. She was also honored as a She Runs It Working Mother of the Year in 2020. Cara’s expertise is constantly tapped by industry reporters and has been featured in Adweek, Digiday, and MediaPost, to name a few. Cara will also serve as a charter member on the newly formed OAAA Agency Council.

Cara serves on the Executive Board for The Valerie Fund and currently runs sales and promotion for Careoke for the Kids, an industry event in its 19th year. She was honored at The Valerie Fund Thanksgiving Gala in 2019 for her tremendous contributions to the cause. In November 2019, Cara was also an honoree at Coaches vs Cancer in 2011, a She Runs it Mother of the Year, Partnership with Children Gala honoree in June 2022, Campaign US Inspiring Women and Women in Media and Marketing honoree in 2023, and Young Audiences of New York honoree in March 2024.  Cara was recognized at her previous agency with a 5th dot award. She is an 18-year breast cancer survivor and has started a non-profit, Media Ladies Conquering Cancer.  She enjoys the beach, crafting, playing games, reading, sewing, traveling and most importantly being with her family.

Sarah Marzano is a Principal Analyst covering retail and commerce media at EMARKETER. Her coverage areas also include retail and ecommerce, seasonal and holiday shopping, and the impact of consumer-facing technology on the retail landscape. Previously, Sarah worked at L2 and Gartner as a retail analyst. She’s been quoted by major news organizations like Wall Street Journal, as well as prominent trade outlets including Adweek, Supermarket News, Ad Age and Modern Retail.

Jason serves as a Director of Ad Product Marketing for Roku. He leads a global team focused on launching new advertising products and features. Jason and his team are focused on products that allow advertisers to access the massive reach of Roku Media and drive performance for their KPIs. Him and his team focus on understanding customer and industry pain points and solving them through product-based solutions. Jason believes in being agile, it’s important to test, learn, and iterate to find true product market fit. He started his career at ESPN in account management, cross-platform media sales, and product marketing.

A top voice on LinkedIn, Mert Damlapinar is a multi-award-winning eCommerce executive with over 17 years hands-on global experience. He held director and VP roles in eCommerce, digital marketing and sales at companies like Sabra/PepsiCo, Mondelez and L’Oreal. He talks to digital leaders of global CPGs all around the world and shares his research and insights with eCommert.

Mert has an in-depth knowledge of omni-channel strategies, retail media performance and analytical insights. As founder and the CEO of the ecommert platform, he applies enterprise-level frameworks and artificial intelligence tools for global omnichannel commerce, retail media optimization, digital shelf excellence and rapid consumer insights. He advises Fortune 500 companies, digital commerce executives and speaks at industry events.

Mert holds a master’s degree in applied business analytics from Boston University, executive management degrees in integrated digital marketing from Cornell University and applied data science and digital transformation degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Currently working on his 3rd book, he published his second book “Agile Analytics for Startups” in October 2022.

Melissa Bonnick is Executive Director, Head of Programmatic, Media Tagging & Trafficking at JPMorgan Chase.

Eric Haggstrom comes to Advertiser Perceptions with a background in advertising, media and tech market research. He primarily works with clients in the CTV, Retail Media and Ad Tech spaces, and leads Advertiser Perceptions advertising spend forecasting projects and macroeconomic research. Prior to joining Advertiser Perceptions, Eric worked at research firm eMarketer as a senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence, focusing on digital advertising, retail media, and streaming video, including CTV advertising, TV and streaming video trends. Eric has presented at industry conferences and appeared in consumer and industry trade publications.

Drew is a commerce executive with a background in fundraising, building, commercializing and scaling intrapreneurial ventures within the world’s largest retailers.

He was an original architect of and former executive at Walmart Connect in the U.S. and Canada, helping to scale the business to $2BN and beyond. This included insourcing the business, establishing the brand and sales enablement practices, leading internal change management, and developing the in-store advertising strategy. In addition, he was a founding member of Walmart’s eCommerce and digital marketing platforms and the CMO of a SoftBank-backed Live Shopping platform called Firework. Drew is currently the Co-Founder and Managing Director of a new retail innovation platform called Adaptive Retail Group.

Outside of work, Drew is a startup advisor, angel investor in scalable tech and education platforms, and a father of two amazing kids. He received awards for both Top 30 Under 30 in Marketing and Top 40 Under 40 in Retail Innovation. Drew is a public speaker, thought leader, writer, aspiring actor (one can still dream), and shared keynote addresses at events including Shoptalk, GroceryShop, The Lead Innovation Summit, Smart Retail Tech.

Abbey Thomas most recently served as Chief Revenue Officer at OpenAP, the platform uniting the television ecosystem’s advanced advertising business across NBC Universal, Paramount, Warner Brothers Discovery, and others. Her responsibilities for driving the company’s Holding Company Enterprise MSA’s included oversight of Platform Sales, Client Strategy, and Client Success. As the first Enterprise Sales hire, Abbey built the company’s revenue practice from the ground up by driving buy side adoption of TV’s advanced advertising platform, growing OpenAP’s portfolio of clients to hundreds of advertisers and scaling the company north of $1B in total platform sales. Under Abbey’s leadership, OpenAP established strategic partnerships with leading holding companies.  Prior to OpenAP, Abbey served as Chief Marketing Officer at Tremor Video, overseeing creative, PR, product and sales marketing functions; and representing the company internationally across the industry’s largest stages at Cannes, Mobile World Congress, and Ad Week. She led various sales teams at Tremor Video including the Entertainment Vertical, as well as founding the Categorical practice at the organization, over her ten year tenure.  Previously, Abbey was responsible for the west coast digital ad sales business at Entertainment Weekly. Abbey began her career at MTV working alongside the industry’s brightest females in early digital advertising beginning in 2000. She has served on the Advisory Board at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and ThinkLA Entertainment organization. Abbey is a cum laude and early graduate from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Journalism specializing in Advertising, one of the most recognized programs in the country aimed at developing top tier ad talent. Abbey lives in Venice, CA where she resides with her two daughters.

Ryan Gould serves as Head of Digital Ad Sales for Warner Bros. Discovery, where he oversees the digital team and sets the strategic direction for the company’s suite of digital offerings, including Max, discovery+, WBD Stream and CNN digital. Additionally, Gould oversees the company’s advanced advertising, programmatic sales, and data strategy. Most recently, he served as senior vice president of sales and client partnerships for Warner Bros. Discovery, developing sales strategy and partnerships across the Warner Bros. Discovery portfolio of digital brands.

Prior to that, Gould oversaw a team of digital sellers focused on a solutions-led, consultative sales approach across CNN’s digital portfolio, which includes premium verticals, mobile products, branded content, and programmatic capabilities. Previously vice president of sales and client partnerships, Gould helped evolve CNN’s digital sales business and scale client opportunities alongside the brand’s growth.

Gould initially began at Bleacher Report as one of the first sales employees in 2008 and supported building that business from the ground up – from building out the team while shaping its revenue strategy, to helping the brand raise multiple rounds of funding. After Warner Bros. Discovery’s acquisition of Bleacher Report in 2012, Gould spent time onboarding the brand to Turner Sports, and later transitioned to support the news division of the company. Prior to joining Bleacher Report, Gould spent over four years at Burst Media, where he formed the foundation of his sales experience.

Gould is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Science in Management, and Concentration in Advertising/Marketing. He currently resides in New York with his wife and two sons.

Miikka Makio is the GM of North America at leading AR & AI beautytech company Revieve. Miikka has a few decades of experience in consumer-facing digital experiences – with a focus over the last 10 years in digital beauty experiences within the AR & AI world. At Revieve, he has been working with some of the leading brands and retailers such as CVS, JCPenney, Boots, AS Watson Group, Unilever, Kiko Milano, No7, and many more – helping them to curate digital brand experiences for various use cases with beautytech (such as virtual try-on, skin diagnostics, product finders, and GenAI -driven beauty experiences). He has also worked with various Retail Media teams, curating beautytech-driven Interactive Retail Media offerings & programs with retailers and deploying campaigns with beauty brands.

Hugh Scallon joined VaynerMedia in early 2022 to lead a new global video activation desk.  This followed a nearly year-long advisory role in the same capacity from his media consultancy.

He guides, trains and counsel’s internal teams and client leaders on modern video for modern living rooms.  Hugh also is market-facing, working with linear & non-linear TV partners on ways to activate for brands. The agency focus is on building out its ‘TV 3.0’ product for clients.  It looks at convergence of TV, streaming & social video.  But with a unique view towards bridging social video IP bottoms up from culture into CTV and linear instead of just looking at reach extension.

VaynerMedia is player in all of linear, non-linear, local, national, programmatic and direct publisher deals for the Upfront, Scatter, DRTV, Addressable, Guerilla & Cross Screen Measurement spaces.

Hugh is also the founder of 5-Star Marketing Advisors LLC, a boutique media consultancy created in 2019.  The advisory practice served DTC brands, digital agencies, publishers, and their ad tech/data platform partners.  The practice sought growth unlocks by bridging ‘know-how’ gaps in strategy, go-to-market operations, team design, ideation, insights, and industry relationships.

Hugh has over 25-years of experience in media & marketing in both client-side and agency roles.  Prior to launching the consultancy, he spent 2010-2019 in executive leadership at Omnicom Media Group (OMG) in NYC.  There he launched PHD Health (2010), winning and running both the GSK and Humana businesses.  Later, he started the 1^st healthcare data practice at OMG’s Annalect unit, working with clients across all Omnicom agencies.  In 2016/17 he was a founding executive at OMG’s Hearts & Science agency where he ran Amgen as well as the OTC brand portfolio for P&G.

Earlier, Hugh served from 2003-2010 at health insurer Aetna.  He first ran corporate advertising and media for both B2B and B2C.  Later, he moved into individual product marketing leadership, overseeing performance marketing for the non-Medicare portfolio, including AARP affinity product lines.  Hugh also led Aetna’s urban health literacy DEI initiatives in partnership with Magic Johnson Enterprises for several years across all business units.

Hugh began his career in marketing at Leo Burnett in Chicago, holding positions in both client service and media on clients like GM and Heinz.  Hugh earned a BA-Journalism degree from the University of Wisconsin and later received his MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.  He resides in Fairfield County, CT outside New York.

Megan Cameron is the EVP, Retail Media Solution Lead for New Stream Media at dentsu. In this role, she partners with retailers to help build, scale and evolve their retail and commerce media businesses. She’s specifically focused on identifying and bringing to life the retail media business strategy that leads with innovation, generates profitable revenue and enhances the consumer experience. She’s spent the majority of her career in the retail and CPG space, most recently leading media network teams at Fortune 100 retailers, including Target, CVS, Nordstrom and Albertsons. She has deep subject matter expertise in retail media, programmatic buying, addressable advertising and cross-functional informatics. She’s also a 2022 honoree of Ad Age’s 40 under 40 and a 2023 member of The List, from Ad Age in partnership with Meta.

Katie Vogt is the Senior Director, Marketing Partnerships and Client Success for Walgreens Advertising Group (wag), where she leads a team of 50+ revenue-focused pros that develop and deploy custom, first-party data-driven omnichannel campaigns for Fortune 500 marketers. Katie’s expertise spans omnichannel audience and channel strategies, in-flight optimization and attributable measurement practices. Since the start of her career, Katie has worked with customer data to optimize merchandising and marketing activations in retail. Prior to Walgreens, she worked at dunnhumby, leading supplier engagements to harness the power of customer data to drive decisioning that leads to more efficient and effective campaigns.

Alicia Esposito is VP of Content – Retail at Emeral, where she orchestrates the 360-degree content strategy and tactical execution for G3’s family of retail-specific brands: Retail TouchPoints, design:retail and Retail Innovation Conference & Expo.

Jeffrey Bustos is a visionary leader at the forefront of the digital advertising industry. As the VP of Measurement, Addressability & Data Center at the IAB, he is responsible for developing groundbreaking industry standards and guides that enable revenue
growth, efficiency, and scale.

Jeffrey is a pioneer in the realm of Retail Media and Commerce, having hosted the highly acclaimed Connected Commerce event for two consecutive years. His passion for innovation extends far beyond this domain, as he spearheads critical initiatives such as the
Retail Media Buyers Guide, Retail Media Measurement Standards, Data Bias and Modeling, and Data Clean Rooms.

Notably, Jeffrey is dedicated to minimizing data bias in AI through his leadership on the Minimizing Data Bias in AI (Part II) Framework. This forward-thinking initiative aims to establish robust guidelines and best practices to ensure AI systems operate with
fairness, transparency, and accountability. Additionally, he is a driving force behind the development of the Generative AI Framework White Paper, which explores the immense potential of automation and personalization in AI machine learning and large language
models (LLMs) for measurement best practices.

As a true thought-leader, Jeffrey’s unwavering commitment to innovation and industry advancement is evident in every aspect of his work. His insights and expertise are invaluable in shaping the future of digital advertising, ensuring that it remains a powerful
and sustainable force in the 21st century.

Evan Herman is Head of Programmatic at Volta Media, a Shell Brand.

Samantha Primack is Vice President, Addressable Strategy & Activation at Kinesso

Elizabeth is currently working as the Head of the Marriott Media Network, Global Ad Revenue for Marriott International. Leading the industry’s first hospitality media network. She manages the advertising revenue growth plan, GTM marketing strategy, pricing & and inventory, sales operations, new product innovation, and ad tech solutions for the Marriott Media Network. She is an Advisor for several boards focusing on women’s empowerment in the media and technology community. Most recently announced, Genuin.

Before joining Marriott, Elizabeth had developed her successful multi-platform sales career at AccuWeather. She managed client direct, agency, and programmatic advertising, in addition to data monetization and location-based advertising solutions. YoY she was a top-revenue performer, partnering with the top global brands. She developed and grew new revenue streams for the Pharmaceutical/Health, CPG, Travel and Government/Political verticals. Elizabeth brought the first presidential campaign partner to the company, a revolutionary partnership with a focus on how weather and location – can impact voter turn-out. She spends her free time with her family, traveling, mentoring next-generation professionals and enjoys gardening.

Rachel Lawson is Director of Shopper Marketing at Mondelez International.

Danielle DeLauro serves as VAB’s Executive Vice President and works directly with the CEO to determine VAB’s strategic vision and set the internal agenda and direction for all departments within the organization.

Danielle led the 30-year-old VAB through a comprehensive transformation, internally and externally. She set the tone for VAB’s evolution into a marketer-first, insights organization that inspires companies to reimagine their media strategies for the modern digital and videocentric world.

A strategist at heart, Danielle spent her career at major advertising agencies working directly with marketers, developing integrated media plans for a range of high-profile brands. Through this experience, she recognized a void in the industry and established VAB’s Strategic Insights division, a team dedicated to helping marketers make fully informed media decisions by providing actionable, unique intelligence about today’s video environments.

Danielle was named one of Cynopsis’ Top Women in Media for 2020, honored as an industry leader and one of the Most Powerful Women in Broadband and Media by Cablefax and has previously been recognized among Advertising Age’s 40 Under 40.

Noelle Huynh is a senior-level leader with diverse experience across media, consumer and market research and analytics. She has a proven ability to identify knowledge and data gaps, design solutions, build teams and infrastructure for measurement, possessing an entrepreneurial spirit best-suited for start-up and high-growth environments. With her hands-on experience, Noelle has led teams in the entertainment and technology sector supporting brand and performance objectives (e.g. audience segmentation, brand trackers, custom consumer research, customer online engagement communities, etc.), brand & creative strategy research and industry/competitive research & analysis, media research & strategy, cross-channel ad effectiveness measurement, cross-channel audience measurement, in-lab experiments, and marketing attribution. In her current role as SVP of Research and Measurement at Warner Bros Discovery, Noelle oversees measurement and analytics uncovering insights to help inform campaign and sales strategies, improve the accuracy of counting audiences, and prove out the distinct value of Warner Bros. Discovery omni-channel media. Noelle is a graduate of the University of Southern California and currently resides in Los Angeles.

Casey Hamlyn is Measurement Lead, North America at TikTok.

Shawn Makhijani is the Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategy, as well as the Head of NBC Spot On – an advanced video advertising business designed for local CTV and OTT advertisers – for NBCUniversal’s Advertising and Partnerships division.

In this role, Makhijani is responsible for business development and strategy across NBCUniversal with a focus on the broadcast businesses including NBCUniversal Local, NBC Affiliate Relations. He works with TV, digital and sales leaders to create strategies and identify opportunities for growth through strategic alliances, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions and organic business creation.

Makhijani also runs NBCUniversal Local’s NBC Spot On business and manages sales strategy for NBCUniversal Local’s local and regional sales businesses. NBCUniversal Local includes 42 NBC/Telemundo owned stations and their associated digital platforms, 7 regional sports networks, regional news network NECN, a robust digital out-of-home group, national multicast networks NBCLX, COZI TV and TeleXitos, and the division’s in-house production, marketing and promotions companies.

Makhijani joined NBCUniversal in 2007, initially charged with growing the digital businesses of the NBC Owned Television Stations group.  With the formation of the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations division, which combined the NBC Owned Television Stations group with the Telemundo Station Group and NECN, his role expanded and was charged with overseeing business development and strategy across all local businesses. The NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations division was rebranded to NBCUniversal Local in 2021.

Before joining NBCUniversal, Makhijani held business development positions at AOL, TellMe Networks, Excite@Home, Twentieth Century Fox and Indo American Enterprises. In addition, he worked in M&A and Equity Capital Markets for JP Morgan. He started his first broadcast television venture at the age of 15, when he co-founded the popular U.S. based television network, Namaste America, where he produced and hosted several shows.

Makhijani earned a bachelor’s degree in Government from Dartmouth College, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Amy Vollet serves as the Executive Vice President of Omnichannel Planning and Activation at Omnicom Commerce, with over 25 years of experience in media strategy and implementation. As a leader in connected commerce media, Amy’s team drives cutting-edge strategies in retail experiences.

Amy’s expertise lies in leveraging data-driven insights to optimize omnichannel strategies, ensuring brands achieve seamless integration across the commerce landscape. Her innovative approach to retail media and omnichannel activation enables brands to enhance consumer engagement and maximize media efficiency.

Prior to her role at Omnicom Commerce, Amy held leadership positions at The Integer Group and Tracy-Locke, where she developed groundbreaking strategies to merge online and offline channels throughout the consumer journey. With a passion for retail media and a focus on media optimization, she consistently delivers impactful results for top brands like Philips, Welch’s, ExxonMobil, and Clorox.

Amy holds a degree from Texas Tech University and remains committed to fostering collaboration and continuous learning within her teams.

Nicholas Ward is President & Co-Founder at Koddi

As the lead of the Retail, CPG and QSR Vertical at Merkle, Janine works with the world’s leading brands, retailers and technology partners to help them realize their business transformation goals.

With experience in Retail Media Networks, Shopper Marketing and Personalization, Janine has always focused on the importance of putting shoppers and consumers at the heart of every program.

Prior to taking on this role, Janine led New Stream Media and the eretail practice at Merkle, partnering with talented digital marketers from Media, Analytics, Audience/CRM, Technology, Media Sales and Creative who all worked together to develop forward-looking strategies for their Retail, CPG and Brand clients that are based on where the RMN industry is heading.

Janine started her career in Canada working on store concepts and new brand launches for Loblaw Companies Limited, Sleeman Brewery, and Sobey’s; she then led a shopper marketing agency working with brands such as Coca-Cola and Kraft. After moving to the US and joining Merkle she led digital transformation projects for Target, Abercrombie & Fitch, Sherwin Williams and Kimberly-Clark, to name a few. The thread that connects all of this experience is a love for retail and shopping and the innovation that comes from such a dynamic industry.

Jennifer Hess is Vice President, Global Ad operations at Fubo, the live TV streaming platform whose global mission is to aggregate the best in TV, including premium sports, news and entertainment content, through a single app.

As VP of global ad operations, Hess plays a key role in monetizing video, sponsorship and programmatic advertising revenue seamlessly across our virtual MVPD and distribution platforms. In addition to spearheading all ad server and supply-side platform activities, Hess also oversees account management, yield management and sales operations. Across all her endeavors, Hess drives operational excellence by building consensus, attending to detail and prioritizing efficient revenue delivery.

With 25 years of experience, Hess is a veteran of the media and ad tech industries. The early days of her career were spent cutting her teeth in media planning for J. Walter Thompson, Deutsch Inc. and GroupM. She then spent several years building and running sales planning and insights practices at Undertone. Prior to Fubo, she ensured excellence in programmatic and addressable media across Dentsu and Merkle.

Hess graduated from Haverford College with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. She lives in Colts Neck, NJ with her husband Michael, sons Zack and Luke, and their dog, Pickles. She enjoys relaxing on the Jersey Shore and coaching Zack’s travel soccer team. Go Thunder!

Jennifer Kisling is a digital sales native. She started her career in Direct ad sales at CBS and later acquired two years experience in data sales at Mastercard. From her early days at CBS eight years ago, her curiosity led her to Programmatic and she never looked back. With her unique background in sales and Programmatic, Jennifer made it her key priority to build the bridge between Direct and Programmatic sales with innovative strategies, solutions and leadership. Now as the VP of Programmatic Direct Sales at the content and streaming powerhouse, Paramount, Jennifer leads a team that delivers cutting-edge and results-oriented solutions to their marketers and agency partners to elevate and support their adtech, decisioning, and data strategies.

As the CRO of Spectrum Reach, Jason has the privilege of leading a 1500+ sales organization that focuses on using data and technology to service over 20,000 local, regional and national clients across scaled TV and Digital products.

Previously, as the SVP of Advertising Sales for DIRECTV, DIRECTV Stream and AT&T U-verse, he managed both a national and local sales organization focused on addressable solutions across linear and digital inventory.

In his prior role, Jason was responsible for leading the addressable, political and local advertising for WarnerMedia Ad Sales. including all DIRECTV assets.

Before the integration with WarnerMedia, Jason was the Chief Revenue Officer at Xandr (AT&T’s Advertising and Analytics Organization) where he led the transformation of largely a legacy TV sales model to an audience first approach across addressable, digital, and programmatic inventory resulting in over a billion dollars of incremental growth.

Jason oversaw all revenue responsibilities, including total national and local sales revenue from the largest HH and device level addressable product in the industry. As is evident from each quarterly earnings report dating back to Q1 2013, revenue growth has significantly outpaced the marketplace under his leadership.

The first decade of Jason’s career was dedicated to launching and adopting emerging networks in the cable industry. During his tenure at companies like Turner Broadcasting, NBC Cable, and Discovery Networks. Jason successfully launched and scaled networks such as MSNBC, Discovery Health Channel and BBC America.

For the 10 years leading up to his various leadership positions in the AT&T portfolio, Jason has been creating marketplaces for networks in industries like Cinema and Digital Placed Based Media, which started with little to no revenue allocation.

Michele Stone is Vice President of Advanced Advertising Product & Planning Solutions at Paramount. In this role, Stone leads the strategy and development of Paramount’s advanced advertising products, including the company’s advanced advertising solution Vantage. She is also responsible for managing the planning, operations and execution of all Vantage convergent campaigns.

Stone joined the company, formerly ViacomCBS, in February 2017 as an original member of the Vantage team. Before Paramount, Stone worked at GroupM, with a decade of experience in Media Buying, and later becoming a leader in the development and execution of GroupM’s data solutions division.

Stone was recognized by AdExchanger and AdMonsters as a 2023 Top Women in Media and Ad Tech for her notable contributions to the industry. She lives in Westchester, NY with her husband and three kids.

Ashan is Uber’s Head of Agency Partnerships and is responsible for establishing strategic relationships with key holding companies in service to our mutual advertisers. Ashan’s affinity for agencies traces back to his roots where he spent the first 12 years of his professional career within Publicis and GroupM operating companies, respectively. For the past 10 years he’s focused on establishing and managing agency partnerships at both Apple and Meta, prior to joining Uber.

Ashan is a graduate of Baruch College, City University of New York, where he still guest lectures. Ashan resides in New York, where he and his wife are busy raising three creative, curious and strong-minded daughters.

Matt Barnes is Vice President of Programmatic Sales at Disney Advertising. In this role Barnes is responsible for driving all Advanced Advertising revenue and partnerships across Disney’s entertainment, news, sport, streaming and kids portfolio including ABC, ABC News, Disney+, Disney Channels Worldwide, ESPN, Freeform, FX Networks, Hulu and National Geographic Networks, as well as the Disney Digital Network, the Company’s online, mobile and social offerings.

In addition to his programmatic sales role, Barnes leads strategic audience based sales initiatives across the company. He and his team defines Disney’s programmatic strategy around live events and premium streaming video.

In 2019, Barnes was honored as part of TV Ad Week’s 40 Under 40 class. In addition, Barnes has been featured in various industry trades for his work in brining automation to Disney’s premium streaming video offering.

Prior to Disney, Barnes spent six years at various media agencies focused around roles in strategic planning and digital investment.
Barnes holds a B.A. in Communications and Minor in Business from University of Scranton.

Blake Droesch is a Senior Analyst covering retail and ecommerce at EMARKETER. His focus areas include consumer behavior, the path to purchase, and the intersection between media and commerce. Droesch has appeared on Bloomberg News and quoted by major publications including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Barron’s.

Edna Pinzon is Global Head of Ad Network & Partnerships at Topsort.

Michael Kuntz is VP of Programmatic Sales at Spectrum Reach.

Josh Trager is Head of Sports Sales at Allen Media Group.

Phillip Lomax is Executive Vice President at MediaScience.