OpenAP Assembles Executive Leadership Team, Signals New Organizational Model Ahead Of Its Marketplace Launch

Advanced advertising company brings in new talent following appointment of CEO David Levy

News provided by

Sep 23, 2019, 16:57 ET

NEW YORK, Sept. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- OpenAP, the advanced advertising company owned by Fox Corporation, NBCUniversal and Viacom, today announced it has hired two key leaders who will help further its mission of improving consumers' ad experiences by making it easier for advertisers to reach unified and consistent cross-publisher audiences within premium TV content at massive reach and scale.

Ed Davis joins as Chief Product Officer and will be based in the organization's Los Angeles office. Brittany Slattery joins OpenAP as Senior Vice President, Head of Marketing & Communications and will be based in New York City. Davis and Slattery will both serve on the company's executive leadership team and will report to OpenAP's Chief Executive Officer David Levy. The appointments follow the hire of Levy as the organization's CEO in May 2019 and precede the October 1 launch of the next iteration of the platform, which expands OpenAP into premium digital video and adds workflow automation for linear and digital order management.

"Over the last four months, we've worked tirelessly alongside our members and partners at Fox, Viacom and NBCU to deliver a new, open marketplace where advertisers can easily buy guaranteed quality attention from precise audiences across both linear and digital," said David Levy, Chief Executive Officer at OpenAP. "As we prepare to launch the marketplace, we are in parallel investing in and building a new company to accelerate the efforts first started by the consortium in 2017. It's critical that we have the right team in place to help us realize our ambitions and deliver on our promise to publishers and advertisers. I'm thrilled to be bringing distinguished, gifted leaders on board like Ed and Brittany to help shape the future of advanced advertising in television."

Ed Davis joins OpenAP most recently from Fox Networks Group (FNG), where he held the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer for Advertising and was responsible for leading advertising product strategy and development, as well as oversight of All City, FNG's branded content studio. Prior to this, he served as Chief Product Officer for true[X], a leading engagement and advertising company that was acquired by 21st Century Fox in 2015. With deep expertise in product management, Davis has a proven track record in senior product leadership positions, including time spent at ESPN, The Walt Disney Company and DIRECTV, where he directed development and innovation in both consumer and advertising product lines.

Davis is a seasoned, well-respected leader who will now be responsible for accelerating the features and services in the upcoming marketplace launch, as well as leading ongoing product strategy and development of OpenAP.

On joining OpenAP, Davis commented: "By launching a first-of-its-kind marketplace that realizes the power of data-driven linear, we are helping transform a business and industry by optimizing and standardizing audiences across linear and digital in a way that advertisers and publishers have been needing for years. This is the right time and the right place for OpenAP, and I'm thrilled to be able to help build this company."

Brittany Slattery joins OpenAP from measurement company Comscore, where she served as head of marketing. In this role, Slattery oversaw all aspects of global marketing and led the team responsible for product marketing, brand, events, marketing operations, PR, thought leadership, and internal and external communications across the North & South America, Europe and APAC regions. Prior to Comscore, Slattery held senior marketing and communication roles at advertising agencies, including Interpublic Group's Huge Inc., as well as Publicis Groupe agencies SapientRazorfish, Razorfish Global and Rosetta (all now Publicis Sapient). She also spent time at the Cleveland bureau of news distribution company PR Newswire, having begun her career in electronic media production and local journalism. Slattery is credited with being a purpose-driven, empathic leader and marketer with a strong track record building brands; helping organizations scale and thrive in seasons of high growth and change; and crafting powerful narratives and high-impact communication programs.

In her new role at OpenAP, Slattery will be responsible for building the company's brand and driving demand and reputation for its services, while working alongside its leadership to develop a distinct and engaging culture for its people.

"OpenAP is the catalyst helping publishers and advertisers reach their consumers with premium content in a way that will ultimately help transform the viewing experience by delivering ads that are relevant, engaging and valuable to an audience's unique needs and preferences," said Slattery. "We're reaching an inflection point for advanced TV, and under David's leadership and the ongoing partnership of our members, significant gains continue to be made in audience-based advertising. I'm humbled to be joining the company as steward of the OpenAP brand and culture during such a pivotal time for our industry."

The company expects to make additional hires in the areas of Client Services and Data Strategy in the coming weeks.

About OpenAP
Founded in 2017 by a consortium of television publishers, OpenAP is the advanced advertising company leading the standardization of audience-based campaigns in television. The OpenAP marketplace is the only platform to deliver cross-publisher audience segments for both linear TV and long-form digital video. Set to launch in October 2019, the new platform offers advertisers targeting and independent posting for advanced audiences within a premium video storefront, as well as workflow automation for linear and digital order management. Members of OpenAP include FOX, NBCUniversal, Viacom and Univision. For more information, visit www.openap.tv.

SOURCE OpenAP