OpenX expands leadership team with five senior executives

OpenX Technologies, one of the world's leading omnichannel supply-side platforms, appointed five senior executives across product, marketing, communications, and operations on October 23, 2025. The announcement marks a strategic expansion designed to scale OpenXSelect, the company's curation and supply-side targeting platform.

John Gentry, CEO of OpenX, addressed programmatic advertising's persistent complexity in the company's announcement. "Programmatic, and even curation, have remained overly complicated for the people buying and selling media," said Gentry. "AI is giving us the chance to simplify what has been too complex and make our customers' and partners' jobs easier. However, technology alone isn't enough. It requires people with deep product expertise, customer focus, clear communication, and the ability to innovate and maximize value to build intelligent ad tech and champion our high standards for quality, performance, and responsibility."

The five appointments bring substantial industry experience to OpenX. Sethu Balasubramanian joins as Vice President of Product with over three decades of experience across TiVo, Undertone (Perion), Cadent, and Xandr (Microsoft). Balasubramanian will lead product development for OpenXSelect and its self-serve infrastructure, driving global platform strategy with a focus on automation, usability, and international scale across connected television, display, native, mobile, app, and video.

Nick Van Amburg assumes the role of Vice President of Product Marketing. Van Amburg brings over twenty years of experience from Condé Nast, The New York Times, and Dotdash Meredith, where he launched innovative ad products for some of the biggest publishers in the world. In his new position, Van Amburg will lead global product marketing for the company's entire product offering, including OpenXSelect, with a sharp focus on how product capabilities align with buyer needs across the U.S., Europe, LATAM, and APAC.

Tiffany Tai joins as Vice President of Communications. She will oversee all internal and external communications, including corporate communications, media relations, analyst engagement, and employee communications. Tai brings over a decade of experience in corporate and product communications, brand storytelling, crisis management, and executive communications from leadership roles at Hulu, Activision Blizzard, and Integral Ad Science.

Nate Fishler takes the position of Vice President of Global Solutions and Technical Operations. As OpenX evolves its platform and global footprint, Fishler will oversee operational execution, streamlining processes, scaling platform delivery, and supporting the growth of OpenXSelect. Fishler brings more than a decade of experience from Index Exchange, TikTok, Kargo, and a record of accelerating revenue growth, deepening partnerships, and aligning internal strategy with external demand.

Emily Kramer joins as Head of Agency Curation and Commerce Media. Kramer will lead strategy for agency partnerships and retail media enablement, with a focus on helping partners navigate offsite monetization and maximizing the value of their commerce data in curated media environments. She brings deep experience from advising CPGs and retailers like Target's Roundel, CVS, Macy's, and The Home Depot through her previous work at Merkle and as an independent retail media consultant.

The expansion reflects OpenX's commitment to three core foundations: delivering transparent, high-quality inventory; driving innovation in data; and ensuring superior performance that directs more budget into working media. According to the announcement, these executives will help scale OpenXSelect, simplifying the complexity of programmatic and making media work better for buyers and publishers alike.

OpenXSelect represents a critical component of OpenX's strategy. The platform, which achieved general availability on July 16, 2025, integrates with 237 million U.S. users and 150 million connected television devices through OpenX's proprietary identity graph. The platform provides granular inventory controls, scaled audience targeting, performance optimization tools, and operational efficiency improvements across connected television, native, app, and web environments.

The timing of OpenX's leadership expansion aligns with significant industry momentum around programmatic curation practices. Following IAB Tech Lab's formal standards announcement in December 2024, major platforms including Google Ad Manager and Microsoft Advertising have integrated curation frameworks into their operations. This shift represents a fundamental change in how digital advertising inventory is packaged and delivered.

Curation addresses a critical need in programmatic advertising. The technology differs from traditional programmatic approaches by incorporating strategic human oversight, enriched contextual intelligence, and advanced audience targeting. Supply-side platforms like OpenX maintain strategic advantages in curation services due to their direct relationships with publishers and inventory access.

Connected television's rapid growth underscores the strategic importance of curation capabilities. The format's share of media budgets is projected to double from 14% in 2023 to 28% in 2025. Meanwhile, 72% of marketers planned to increase programmatic advertising investment in 2025, up from 62% in 2024. These trends emphasize the need for platforms that can handle increasing complexity while maintaining transparency and control.

OpenX has demonstrated consistent innovation in supply-side targeting since 2018, when it launched the industry's first and largest independent supply-side identity graph. The company now operates across connected television, native, app, and web inventory, providing scale for advertisers and publishers. OpenX is a trusted partner of more than 200,000 premium publisher domains and over 100,000 advertisers.

The company's sustainability leadership distinguishes it in the market. OpenX was the first adtech company to be certified as CarbonNeutral and third-party verified for achieving its Science Based Targets initiative Net-Zero targets. This 17-year track record of programmatic innovation positions OpenX to execute on its expanded leadership team's objectives.

Recent product developments demonstrate OpenX's aggressive scaling of curation capabilities. The company integrated S&P Global Mobility's Polk Automotive data on August 19, 2025, targeting the substantial US automotive advertising market projected to surpass $31 billion in 2025. OpenX launched automated discount capabilities on September 17, 2025, enabling buyers to access reduced rates from more than 80 integrated partners while preserving budget allocations for working media.

The company has also navigated significant competitive challenges. OpenX filed a comprehensive antitrust lawsuit against Google on August 4, 2025, seeking damages following the Eastern District of Virginia court's ruling that found Google illegally monopolized digital advertising markets. The 87-page complaint details how Google's systematic anticompetitive conduct destroyed OpenX's innovative ad server business and severely damaged its ad exchange operations through "willful" monopolization.

The competitive landscape for supply-side platforms remains intense. Magnite recently unified curation and activation within its ClearLine platform, while Google Ad Manager unveiled curation tools to streamline agency operations. Microsoft Advertising expanded its partner program to include curators on February 27, 2025, marking the first expansion to include curation technology providers.

OpenX's leadership expansion addresses fundamental market needs identified by industry participants. During IAB Europe's Virtual Programmatic Day on July 3, 2025, executives offered varying perspectives on whether curation represents genuine innovation or rebranded existing practices. Frank Schofield, Director of Enterprise Sales and Commerce Media at Magnite, defended curation as genuinely transformative, arguing it gives buyers unprecedented control over supply chain decisioning.

The appointments strengthen OpenX's position to execute on its mission to make media work better for buyers and publishers. Gentry emphasized the importance of combining technology with human expertise. "With these new leaders, OpenX is doubling down on our mission to make media work better for buyers and publishers," said Gentry.

OpenX operates through a 100% cloud-based tech stack, powering advertising across connected television, app, mobile web, and desktop. This infrastructure enables publishers to deliver marketers improved performance and dynamic future-proofed solutions. The platform's global reach spans more than 200,000 premium publisher domains and over 100,000 advertisers.

The programmatic advertising industry continues to evolve rapidly. Industry data shows 88% of US display advertising flows through programmatic channels, creating substantial market opportunities for platforms that successfully navigate complexity while maintaining transparency. Supply path optimization initiatives have gained traction throughout 2024 and 2025 as buyers seek operational efficiency improvements.

The new leadership team faces the challenge of scaling OpenXSelect while maintaining the platform's emphasis on transparency, performance, and responsibility. The appointments span critical functions: product development, product marketing, communications, operations, and agency partnerships. This comprehensive approach reflects the multidimensional challenges facing supply-side platforms in the current market environment.

Balasubramanian's product leadership will prove critical for OpenXSelect's evolution. His experience across multiple major platforms—TiVo, Undertone (Perion), Cadent, and Xandr (Microsoft)—provides perspective on how different approaches to programmatic advertising have succeeded or failed over time. His focus on automation, usability, and international scale addresses key requirements for platforms seeking to simplify programmatic complexity.

Van Amburg's product marketing expertise from major publishing brands brings valuable perspective on publisher needs and challenges. His experience launching innovative ad products at Condé Nast, The New York Times, and Dotdash Meredith positions him to effectively communicate OpenXSelect's value proposition to buyers across different regional markets. Cross-regional marketing becomes increasingly important as programmatic advertising expands globally.

Tai's communications leadership addresses OpenX's need for effective internal and external messaging during a period of rapid platform evolution and competitive intensity. Her experience in crisis management and executive communications from Hulu, Activision Blizzard, and Integral Ad Science prepares her for the complex communications challenges facing supply-side platforms. The programmatic advertising industry faces ongoing scrutiny around transparency, data usage, and competitive practices.

Fishler's operational focus on streamlining processes and scaling platform delivery directly supports OpenXSelect's growth objectives. His experience accelerating revenue growth and deepening partnerships at Index Exchange, TikTok, and Kargo provides operational expertise for managing the complex technical and business relationships required to scale a curation platform. Operational execution often determines whether programmatic platforms can deliver on their technical capabilities.

Kramer's specialization in agency curation and commerce media addresses one of the fastest-growing segments of programmatic advertising. Her experience advising major retailers like Target's Roundel, CVS, Macy's, and The Home Depot on offsite monetization positions her to help agencies navigate the complex landscape of retail media enablement. Commerce media represents a significant opportunity for supply-side platforms that can effectively activate commerce data in curated environments.

The programmatic advertising market continues to face challenges around signal loss, privacy regulations, and the deprecation of third-party cookies. These industry-wide shifts increase the importance of first-party data activation and identity solutions. OpenX's proprietary identity graph spanning 237 million U.S. users and 150 million connected television devices provides infrastructure to address these challenges, but effective scaling requires both technical capabilities and strategic leadership.

OpenX's emphasis on AI-enabled simplification reflects broader industry trends. Multiple programmatic platforms have incorporated artificial intelligence capabilities to automate campaign setup, targeting, and optimization. However, questions remain about whether AI can truly simplify programmatic complexity or whether it adds additional layers of opacity to already complex systems. Gentry's comments suggest OpenX views AI as a tool that requires human expertise to deliver meaningful simplification rather than a standalone solution.

The company's cloud-native infrastructure provides technical advantages for scaling across multiple formats and channels. Cloud-based systems offer flexibility and scalability that legacy on-premises infrastructure cannot match. OpenX's complete migration to cloud infrastructure positions the platform to handle increasing transaction volumes and data processing requirements as programmatic advertising continues to grow.

The appointments come as OpenX faces both opportunities and challenges. The opportunities include growing programmatic budgets, increasing demand for curation services, and the company's strong position in connected television. The challenges include intense competition from both established platforms and new entrants, ongoing regulatory scrutiny of the programmatic advertising ecosystem, and the technical complexity of managing omnichannel advertising at scale.

OpenX's 17-year track record provides credibility but does not guarantee future success. The programmatic advertising industry has witnessed multiple platform failures, consolidations, and strategic pivots over the past decade. Platforms that successfully navigate market changes typically demonstrate both technical innovation and strong client relationships. The new leadership team's collective experience spans both dimensions.

The five appointments represent a significant investment in OpenX's future. Senior executives with decades of experience at major platforms command substantial compensation packages. The decision to expand leadership across multiple functions simultaneously suggests OpenX views this as a critical inflection point for the company and the broader programmatic advertising market.

Industry observers will watch whether OpenX's expanded leadership team can effectively simplify programmatic complexity while maintaining the transparency and performance standards that differentiate the company. The success or failure of this strategy will have implications not just for OpenX but for the broader evolution of curation practices across the programmatic advertising ecosystem.

Timeline

• 2018: OpenX launched the industry's first and largest independent supply-side identity graph
• December 16, 2024: IAB Tech Lab announced formal curation standards that had existed since early 2023
• February 27, 2025: Microsoft Advertising expanded partner program to include curation technology providers
• July 16, 2025: OpenX announced general availability of OpenXSelect curation platform
• August 4, 2025: OpenX filed antitrust lawsuit against Google seeking damages after Virginia court monopoly ruling
• August 19, 2025: OpenX integrated S&P Global Mobility's Polk Automotive data for automotive advertising targeting
• September 17, 2025: OpenX launched automated discount capabilities for 80+ curation partners
• October 23, 2025: OpenX announced strategic expansion of leadership team with five senior executive appointments

Summary

Who: OpenX Technologies appointed five senior executives: Sethu Balasubramanian (Vice President of Product), Nick Van Amburg (Vice President of Product Marketing), Tiffany Tai (Vice President of Communications), Nate Fishler (Vice President of Global Solutions and Technical Operations), and Emily Kramer (Head of Agency Curation and Commerce Media).

What: A strategic expansion of OpenX's leadership team designed to scale OpenXSelect, the company's curation and supply-side targeting platform. The expansion reflects OpenX's commitment to delivering transparent, high-quality inventory; driving innovation in data; and ensuring superior performance that directs more budget into working media.

When: The appointments were announced on October 23, 2025, coming after OpenXSelect achieved general availability on July 16, 2025, and following significant industry momentum around programmatic curation practices throughout 2024 and 2025.

Where: OpenX Technologies, an independent omnichannel supply-side platform that operates globally across more than 200,000 premium publisher domains and serves over 100,000 advertisers. The executives will work across OpenX's international operations spanning the U.S., Europe, LATAM, and APAC markets.

Why: The expansion addresses programmatic advertising's persistent complexity and positions OpenX to compete in the rapidly growing curation market. With connected television budgets projected to double to 28% of media spend by 2025 and 72% of marketers planning to increase programmatic investment, OpenX requires expanded leadership to execute on market opportunities while maintaining its standards for quality, performance, and responsibility. The appointments bring complementary expertise across product development, marketing, communications, operations, and agency partnerships necessary to scale a complex curation platform in a competitive market environment.