IASH appoints Matt Whaley as new chair

Whaley will be working with head of IASH Julia Smith to lead the group through the next 12 months and further raise its profile amongst UK advertisers and agencies.

Whaley will be responsible for spear-heading numerous upcoming initiatives designed to strengthen the IASH Code of Conduct and ensure that all council processes remain robust, cost-effective and timely.  Projects on Whaley’s immediate agenda for the group to explore are centralised site vetting and content policing, in order to make sure that online advertising is as transparent as possible, with brand safety online the number one priority.

As chair, Whaley's other priorities will include streamlining the manual auditing process, as well as getting
in front of more media agencies and increasing the IASH membership database.

Before setting up Jemm Media more than three years ago, Whaley was sales and development director at
online publisher Crystal Guide. Before this, he was account director at online research house Pure Profile.

Whaley said: "On the back of a range of key initiatives, IASH is currently in a very strong position. Having
said that, there is still plenty of work to be done to further promote the benefits of the online advertising
network business model."

Last year, IASH appointed Julia Smith, former head of digital at Mirror Group Newspapers, as the first Head of IASH.

Julia Smith, head of IASH, said: “Matt’s enthusiasm, drive and dedication to the industry make him a fantastic appointment as chair of IASH. We’ve made great progress over the past 12 months but I see the next 12 as critical in terms of our profile and expansion. This industry is not without its challenges and IASH is committed to continuously evolving with the marketplace – with Matt at the helm we can grow the group further and delve even deeper into the most pressing issues regarding brand safety and content online.”

Network Transparency: What everyone can see" - hear Matt Whaley speak at the next AdMonsters EU Network Ad Ops Forum" Find out more at http://www.admonsters.com/node/33703/sessions

IASH was formed in 2005 to address the perceived problem of a lack of transparency within online ad
trading. An increasing proportion of online ad spend is courtesy of online ad networks, which take pages
publishers cannot sell directly, and sell that inventory to advertisers at cheaper rates.

For more information contact:
Julia Smith, Head of IASH, 020 7050 6961 or julia@iabuk.net 
Amy Kean, senior PR and marketing manager, IAB, 07739372042 amy@iabuk.net.

About IASH
IASH exists to encourage best practice among online advertising sales houses through the adoption of an effective code of conduct. IASH also exists to promote the real benefits of the online advertising network business model.

IASH members wish to ensure that display ads placed via their networks do not appear on websites which could jeopardize advertisers' brands. This Code provides a formal framework for best practice for IASH Members to follow when dealing with advertisers, agencies, networks and site owners. The purpose of the Code is to give those buying, selling or broking internet advertising space a clear understanding of the types of inventory which can and cannot be used when fulfilling an ad insertion order.

The ABCe audit checks a representative sample of publisher terms and conditions, site vetting and inventory delivery according to the permissions set by advertiser insertion orders.

About ABCe

ABCe is the industry owned, non-profit distributing organisation, which works on behalf of advertisers, media buyers and media owners, to provide third party independent certification for digital media.

ABCe’s role is to manage standards through its work with JICWEBS (Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards – www.jicwebs.org). ABCe provides a rigorous audit to help ensure that all IASH members meet and continue to adhere to, key elements of the strict requirements set out in the IASH Code of Conduct.

For more information please visit www.abc.org.uk