Mediaplex’s Founder & CEO Joins Overture’s founding CFO at Leading Advertising Automation Company
LOS ANGELES – Rubicon Project CEO and Founder Frank Addante has named former Mediaplex Founder & CEO Greg Raifman as President and former founding Overture CFO Todd Tappin as COO/CFO. Raifman, pioneer of buyer ad serving technology at Mediaplex and Tappin, pioneer of search ad automation technology at Overture join Addante, pioneer of publisher ad serving technology to assist the Rubicon Project Team on its mission to automate the buying and selling of all digital advertising.
Raifman, who will report directly to Addante as President, a newly created position, recently served as the Executive Chairman of video ad exchange and real time bidding company LiveRail, Inc. Prior to LiveRail, Raifman founded and served as the Chairman, CEO and President of Mediaplex Inc. (NASDAQ “MPLX”). Under his management Mediaplex grew from inception to a global advertising technology company with seven offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia, more than 400 employees and a $4 billion market cap before merging with ValueClick in October 2001. Mediaplex developed many of the initial ad serving technologies for the advertising industry that are still used today, more than 13 years later, including adXML and mobile java objects [MOJO]. Raifman will manage the day-to-day operations of Rubicon Project and will utilize his previous experience to help ramp the company’s buyer automation initiatives.
“Being ahead of the curve, in 2000 Greg and his Mediaplex team invented adXML, an innovative language used to process transactions between ad buyers and sellers electronically,” said Addante, the former founder & CTO of L90, where he pioneered the adMonitor ad-serving technology acquired by DoubleClick in 2001. “Thirteen years ago, Greg and I successfully conducted the first electronic ad transaction between Mediaplex’s buy-side ad server and L90’s publisher-side ad server. This type of transaction was the foundation for today’s electronic ad marketplaces, which are becoming ubiquitous.”
“The opportunity to join Frank and the Rubicon Project team is a game-changing opportunity for me,” said Raifman. “I look forward to working with the strong leadership team to further Rubicon Project’s goal of automating the ad industry, and finish what Frank and I started back in 2000.”
Tappin will be responsible for Rubicon’s operating and financial plan. Tappin has strategic experience in search automation technology and the video ad market, and deep experience in successfully executing and managing mergers and acquisitions. Prior to Rubicon Project, Tappin was the CEO of SocialVibe, a video real-time buying company. Before SocialVibe, Tappin was the founding CFO of Overture, Inc., the company that invented search automation technology, which was ultimately acquired by Yahoo! for $1.63 billion. Tappin, who was instrumental in negotiating the sale of Overture to Yahoo!, helped lead Overture from startup to more than $1 billion in annual revenues and 1,400 employees.
“Rubicon Project is automating all digital advertising just as Overture did for search,” said Tappin. “I am excited to take on this new challenge at this time in the company’s trajectory. I hope that my experience in managing the IPO and M&A processes will be instrumental in executing Rubicon Project’s current operating plan and strategic initiatives.”
As part of Rubicon’s leadership renewal, General Counsel Victoria von Szeliski will now take on the added title of EVP, Culture and Business Affairs. “At the Rubicon Project, culture matters. We hire the smartest people that build pioneering products that, in turn, attract great customers,” said Addante.
“We are growing our tech culture to encourage innovation and enable us to recruit, reward and retain team members who share our values,” said von Szeliski. “We plan to hire more than 100 new employees worldwide this year through organic growth, and to integrate additional team members via M&A.” She will also be responsible for Rubicon Project’s corporate services functions and philanthropic initiatives.
This story first appeared in AllThingsD.
About Rubicon
The Rubicon Project® is a leading technology company automating the buying and selling of advertising globally. REVV®, the industry’s largest independent technology platform is used by more than 500 of the world’s premium publishers to transact with more than 100,000 advertisers. REVV’s automation technologies and optimization algorithms allow buyers and sellers to conduct their business at global scale in a brand-safe marketplace where billions of transactions occur every single day. To learn more, visit www.rubiconproject.com.
