Public Services
A Note to Site Visitors SEMPO is an industry organization designed to promote search engine marketing in general, not an accreditation body for SEM firms. Membership in SEMPO is not a guarantee of a particular firm's capabilities, nor does it signify industry approval or disapproval of their practices. |
SEMPO 2007 Board of Advisors
Ron Belanger is the Vice President of Agency Development for Yahoo! Search Marketing. He is responsible for building mutually beneficial relationships with Yahoo's! agency partners. By supporting a number of initiatives such as joint research, agency staffing, co-marketing events and product training, Ron and his team empower agencies to scale their search marketing practices into profitable, high growth service lines. Prior to joining Yahoo! Search Marketing, Ron was Vice President of Search and Affiliate Marketing at Carat Interactive (now Carat Fusion). There, he grew the nascent search practice of three employees into one of the largest services of the agency. Ron is a noted expert in the field of search marketing, with a passion for the topic of search and branding. He is a sought after speaker, with appearances including Ad:Tech, Search Engine Strategies, OMMA, Search Insider Summit, MIXX, iMedia Summits, DMA Annual, and many other top industry events. His thoughts and opinions have been featured in publications such as Businessweek, USA Today, San Jose Mercury News, Adweek, AdAge, DM News, and several others. Ron earned his Bachelor of Arts from Clark University and did graduate work at the McCallum Graduate School of Business at Bentley College. David Fischer As Vice President of Online Sales & Operations, David is responsible for the online sales channel and operations of Google's advertising program in North America .He also runs the operations of Google Checkout, an online payment service. In addition, David opened and oversees several Google offices, including the India Online Sales & Operations centers in Hyderabad and Delhi, and the Ann Arbor, Michigan office. Previously, David served as Deputy Chief of Staff of the U.S. Treasury Department, where he was an advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury and worked on a variety of economic policy issues. Prior to that, David was an Associate Editor at U.S. News & World Report, covering economics and business from Washington, D.C. In the early 1990s, he was a consultant in Moscow working on the implementation of Russia's privatization program. David earned a BA from Cornell University and an MBA from Stanford University.
Olivier Lemaignen brings 15 years of online and offline demand generation experience to Intuit. After managing QuickBooks' direct marketing acquisition team, he took over the Small Business Division's SEM activities and now also leads the company's Global Search Marketing team. Prior to Intuit, Olivier served as VP of Marketing for United Marketing Group, a direct marketer of affinity merchandise and membership-based services. Olivier started his direct marketing career with advertising agencies in Chicago, where he consulted on acquisition and retention strategies with clients such as Sprint, NordicTrack, Midas, and Progressive Insurance. Matthew Lydon As the senior director of Sales for Microsoft, Matthew Lydon is responsible for U.S. sales of search and direct marketing solutions, including sales strategy and deployment of adCenter in the United States. He is a 20-year veteran of media sales. Along with the development of adCenter during the past year, he focused on hiring, staffing and training the search sales organization. Matthew also manages a national sales force chartered with new business development for all of Microsoft's digital properties, including MSN, Live Search, X-Box Live, and Office Live. Matthew previously managed MSN advertising sales for the Western United States, overseeing offices in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. He also helped build the Pacific Northwest sales office, including the sales and account management teams. Before he began working for Microsoft Corp., Matthew spent 10 years in broadcast sales, most recently as the national sales manager for the Tribune Co., where he managed East Coast sales for the FOX Broadcasting Co. affiliate in Seattle. He also worked in broadcast sales for Kelly Broadcasting and Gaylord Entertainment Co. Matthew graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Communications from Gonzaga University. In terms of outside interests, he makes the most of recreation activities in the Pacific Northwest, including skiing, biking, and fly fishing.
Rob Norman is Global CEO of GroupM Interaction and a member of the global GroupM Executive Committee that supervises the activities of the 13,000 person, $40 billion agency group. GroupM Interaction represents the interactive marketing capability of Mindshare, Mediacom and Mediaedge:cia. GroupM is the world's largest buyer of interactive media with billings close to $3bn. Rob joined CIA in 1986 founding CIA Interactive in 1994 and Outrider, its search unit, in 1998. In 2000 Rob joined the Board of Tempus Group PLC, listed on the London Stock exchange and was a director of multiple subsidiaries of the company. Following the acquisition of CIA by WPP in 2001 Rob led the combined digital offer of Mediaedge:cia and was Chairman of the Mediaedge:cia Group in the UK until 2005 when he was appointed to his current position. Rob is a frequent speaker on industry issues in the US, Europe, and Asia and has worked for clients in every marketing category. Rob is a member of the WPP Digital Advisory Board and has been closely involved in the development of the WPP Digital portfolio, and sits as the company's representative on the board of Wild Tangent, the online gaming platform, and of M80, the company's community marketing agency. Rob believes that marketing requires fundamental re-engineering to respond to massive change in consumer behavior and that the traditional models of advertising and communication simply will not survive in their current form.
Safa Rashtchy is a managing director of Piper Jaffray and a senior research analyst focused on Internet media and marketing. He joined Piper Jaffray as a research analyst in 1997 and has published several technical papers and presented at various industry conferences. In addition, Safa was named to The Wall Street Journal's "2002 Best on the Street" analyst survey and was also a winner in Institutional Investor magazine's "Home Run Hitters of 2001" top stock pickers list. Safa also consistently enjoys the top ranking for his earnings accuracy, as compiled by Starmine. He is quoted regularly in many top publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Time, BusinessWeek, and Fortune, and he makes regular appearances on CNBC and CNNfn. Safa has developed his research coverage with a focus on online advertising, search and e-commerce, and related Internet services. Safa's research in online search has been the most extensive in the industry, and he is often considered an authority on the online search industry. Safa came to Piper Jaffray with an extensive background on the Internet, as well as experience in the digital imaging industry. From 1992 to 1996, Safa was president of ColorWorks Graphics, the digital imaging company he founded in Boston. Prior to that, Safa worked in various technical and management capacities in computer graphics and engineering companies. Safa holds a Master's degree in Business Administration, Summa Cum Laude, from Boston University and a Bachelor's degree in Engineering from Purdue University. Greg Stuart is the former CEO & President of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the trade association for the interactive advertising & marketing industry. He led the industry from $6 billion to $17 billion annually and grew the IAB itself +500% in four years. The IAB serves Internet Media giants such as AOL, CNET, Google, Forbes.com, MSN, Disney, and Yahoo!, among many others. His recent book, "What Sticks: Why Most Advertising Fails and How to Guarantee Yours Succeeds," outlines a new approach to advertising based on research against $1 billion in advertising spending over a five-year period. Ad Age identified What Sticks as "One of 10 books you should have read in 2006," and was in the top 15 of all books sold on Amazon.com just after launch. Greg is a thought leader in the digital media and advertising arenas: Internet (search, display, video, lead gen, etc.), Mobile, IPTV & beyond. He was selected by Ad Age as one of "10 Who Made Their Mark" in 2006 (along with Jay-Z and others). Greg has more than two decades of experience in Internet start-ups, digital media, and traditional advertising. Before the IAB, he was CEO of DeltaClick, Inc., a venture backed advertising technology company in San Francisco, and served as a Venture Partner at Outlook Ventures. Prior, he was a senior executive at Flycast Network, Cars.com, and Sony Online Ventures. Greg also built the Interactive division at the world's leading direct marketing agency, Wunderman (a subsidiary of Young & Rubicam). Greg serves on Board of Directors for Rapt, Inc. in San Francisco, Allyes in China, and the Ad Research Foundation. He is on the Advisory Boards of Adify, Fraudwall, Veoh, Vizu, Tremor Media, ZenZui along with non profits SEMPO and IAB Mexico. He is also member of the National Speakers Association and speaks around the world on issues in Advertising and Internet Marketing. Greg has a BA in Economics from the University of Washington. He lives in Bridgehampton, NY with his wife Pamela, twin daughters, and son. Shar VanBoskirk Shar is a senior analyst whose work focuses primarily on strategies for leveraging interactive channels, and she is widely quoted in publications, such as The New York Times, Fortune, and The Wall Street Journal, and has appeared on National Public Radio. Shar's specific areas of emphasis include email marketing, online advertising, search engine marketing, ad serving and targeting, mobile marketing, and in-game advertising. She, together with the rest of the marketing strategy and technology team, also shares her insights on technology and marketing in Forrester's Marketing Blog. Shar returned to Forrester in 2004 after several years away working in marketing consulting. Shar served as research director for marketing research boutique, TideWatch, where she led internal strategy efforts and client strategy projects. Shar was also a consultant with Carlson Marketing Group's Business Strategy Consulting team, developing CRM and email programs for clients including Home Depot, British Airways, and Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Shar began her career at Forrester in 1997 during the early days of the Internet and has written research on customer loyalty, ad networks, and marketing measurement and planning. Shar is a graduate of Harvard University. |
