OpenAP Creates Advisory Board to Guide Ad Company

OpenAP, formed by media companies to standardize and simplify data-based targeting advertising, has named an advisory board of media buyers and advertisers.

The board will help the company as it introduces new buying mechanisms designed to move the TV ad business beyond the traditional age and sex demographics.

“With OpenAP serving as the buy- and sell-side connector, the charter of our inaugural advisory board will be to fuel more action across the media ecosystem through greater collaboration, increased transparency, and sophistication of buying that benefits all parties. We’re humbled to be joined by this prestigious group and confident that together we’ll spark the change needed to really move our industry forward,” said OpenAP CEO David Levy.

The company said the members of the board were selected based on their contributions to advanced advertising.

“With new standards and technology now available, we’re so much closer to being able to connect the right message to the right consumer on any device, which ultimately makes the experience consumers have with ads more enriching, engaging and valuable. But we still have a lot of work to do to bridge the gap in how we activate our audiences and measure the things that matter,” said one of the new board members, Sasha Wolfe, head of media at Taco Bell. “Coming together will create urgency to fuel more sophisticated ways of buying, and I’m thrilled to be joining the group of leaders OpenAP has assembled to champion real change.”

The board is expected to meet in person twice a year. The first meeting took place in January and focused on optimization and measurement heading into the upfronts.

The members of the board are:

  • Adam Gerber, global chief media officer at Essence
  • David Sederbaum, executive VP, US video investment at Dentsu Aegis
  • Greg Johns, executive VP, chief digital officer at Canvas Worldwide
  • Helen Katz, senior VP, global research director at Publicis Media
  • Jonathan Anselmo, chief operating officer and president at OMD
  • Jonathan Steuer, chief research officer at Omnicom Media Group
  • Julie Anson, director, strategic investment, Advanced TV at Magna Global
  • Karyn Johnson, president of programmatic investment at Publicis Media
  • Laura McElhinney, chief data officer at Horizon Media
  • Lisa Schoder, head of US media and multicultural marketing at Ford Motor Company
  • Louisa Wong, chief operating officer at Carat USA
  • Marissa Jimenez, president at MODI Media
  • Molly Finnerty, senior VP strategic investment at Magna Global
  • Ritchie Ordonez, head of media, original series at Amazon
  • Samantha Rose, senior VP, video investment & Horizon Advanced at Horizon Media
  • Sasha Wolfe, head of media at Taco Bell
  • Susan Schiekofer, chief digital investment officer at GroupM 

OpenAP's media members include NBCUniversal, Fox, ViacomCBS and AMC Networks.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.