Programmatic marketing company MediaMath has appointed Joanna O’Connell to chief marketing officer. Formerly lead analyst for AdExchanger, O’Connell brings a wealth of ad tech industry experience to MediaMath to propel the company into its next stage in growth.

“Joanna has studied the digital marketing tech ecosystem for years,” said Joe Zawadzki, CEO, MediaMath. “We are thrilled to bring her perspective and experience to MediaMath as we continue on our journey in this complex and fast-moving space. Joanna comes on board at a critical time as the industry seeks further definition. Given our market position, we believe we are approaching a breakaway speed and Joanna will help us achieve that goal.”

O’Connell brings more than 15 years of experience in the marketing and ad tech industry. She comes to MediaMath from AdExchanger, where she was lead analyst. In her role, she studied and published research on the challenges, opportunities and risks in digital marketing.

Prior to AdExchanger, O’Connell held the role of principal analyst for interactive marketing professionals at Forrester Research, where she focused on display marketing, ad targeting, optimisation and measurement. She started her career at Avenue A in New York and was a founding member of Razorfish’s ATOM Systems agency trading desk. She also ran brand relations for the Audience on Demand practice at VivaKi, helping advertising clients target and optimize broad-reaching interactive campaigns. O’Connell is a frequent speaker at industry events, including OMMA AdNets and BlueKai, TARGUSInfo, and Nielsen data summits.

O’Connell said, “I’ve been studying the ad tech landscape for a long time now. I know how to identify the leader in a category. In marketing software, it’s MediaMath. They have the talent, the technology and the strategy to own the programmatic space and have a real impact on the future of digital marketing. I’m excited to be back in a role where I get to be hands-on rather than a commentator on the space.

“I’ve known the leadership team for almost a decade, and the initial vision they laid out for their demand-side platform has come true. Their industry leadership position and explosive growth is testament to this. I’m very excited to come on board and help shape the company’s future.”