Former Chief Product Officer takes over as CEO while Steve Wadsworth transitions to Chairman of the Board
SAN FRANCISCO — Tapjoy, the Maximum Impact Platform™ for mobile advertisers and app developers, announced today the appointment of Jeff Drobick as its new President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Drobick takes over for Steve Wadsworth, who transitions from his role as CEO to Chairman of Tapjoy’s Board of Directors.
Jeff Drobick has served as Chief Product Officer (CPO) of Tapjoy since 2013, driving the company’s overall product vision and strategy while overseeing its product management, design, engineering, devops and data science teams. Prior to Tapjoy, Drobick served as CEO of Geeknet Media and also spent nearly 12 years at eBay, where he held technology positions such as Vice President of Customer Service Technology and Vice President of IMD & Product Development. Prior to eBay, he spent nearly 8 years in Accenture’s global technology practice.
As Tapjoy’s CPO, Drobick worked closely with Wadsworth to lead the company through a period of tremendous innovation. He helped establish the company as the leader in mobile opt-in, value exchange advertising and claim significant market share in the areas of app monetization, rewarded video, rich media and programmatic advertising. Drobick’s appointment to CEO ensures a seamless transition and continued oversight of the product initiatives and commercial outreach fueling Tapjoy’s momentum.
“It is a great honor to follow in Steve’s footsteps as we continue to drive innovation and growth for mobile publishers seeking better monetization and advertisers seeking a highly engaged audience,” said Drobick. “We have a great leadership team and passionate employees helping our customers reach about 800 million consumers every month. That’s pretty remarkable, and the partnership across our commercial, technical and functional teams is a key driver behind the results. I’m also excited to continue working with Steve as Chairman, and as CEO I will carry forward our mission, vision and values for our customers and shareholders.”
Steve Wadsworth has served as CEO of Tapjoy since 2012. He was previously President of Disney Interactive Media Group and SVP & Chief Financial Officer of Walt Disney Internet Group. Wadsworth oversaw the company’s successful acquisitions of 5ROCKS, a mobile marketing automation and analytics company, and Tapdaq, an advertising mediation and app monetization platform. During his tenure, Tapjoy was named one of the “World’s Most Innovative” companies by Fast Company, and the company has experienced accelerating revenue growth and more than two years of expanding profitability.
“I am very proud of what the team has accomplished over the years as we established ourselves as a leader in mobile advertising and app monetization,” said Wadsworth. “The ecosystem is maturing rapidly, and with Tapjoy poised to release a number of new innovations, now is the right time for Jeff to take over. He is a great leader with exceptional vision, and he was the obvious choice to serve as our next CEO. I have the fullest confidence in him and the team to continue driving the industry forward and creating value for all of our customers, partners and stakeholders.”
Wadsworth will take over as Chairman from Warren Jenson, who was elected as Tapjoy’s Non-Executive Chairman in 2013 and will remain as an independent Board Member. Jenson is currently President, CFO and Executive MD of International at LiveRamp. He previously has held senior leadership positions at Electronic Arts, Amazon.com and National Broadcasting Company (NBC).
Jenson said, “Jeff’s promotion to CEO is a natural progression for the company as we look to capitalize on its success. The Board and I have 100 percent confidence that Jeff’s leadership and ability to execute make him the perfect person to help Tapjoy generate positive returns for all stakeholders while delivering innovative advertising and app monetization products to the market. We are extremely grateful for Steve’s significant contributions over the last several years, and we are delighted that he will continue to lend his expertise as Chairman of the Board.”
Tapjoy also announced today the promotions and expanded responsibilities of several executives, including Shannon Jessup to Global Chief Revenue Officer; Benjamin Chen to SVP & GM, Global Developer Relations; Sarah Chafer to SVP, Global Performance; Emily McInerney to Global VP of Marketing; Surendra Pathak to SVP of Platform Engineering and Moonsik Kang to SVP of Engineering.
About Tapjoy
Tapjoy is a leading mobile advertising and app monetization company. Our Maximum Impact Platform™ empowers advertisers to connect with over 800 million monthly active users through value exchange advertising that drives awareness, engagement and the metrics that matter most to their overall growth. Meanwhile, companies such as Scopely, Crowdstar, Topps and many of the Top 200 grossing app publishers trust our platform to monetize their content, grow their audiences and reward their users. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in San Francisco, Tapjoy is a global organization with more than a dozen offices worldwide.
