Townsend Feehan to head IAB Europe, as Chief Executive Officer

IAB Europe announced today that its Board of Directors has appointed Townsend Feehan to head IAB Europe, as Chief Executive Officer. The decision, made by IAB Europe’s Board of Directors on February 25th, was effective immediately.

Feehan has 20 years of industry and association management experience, most recently doing policy planning at Microsoft Legal & Corporate Affairs EMEA, in Brussels.

Townsend has a unique blend of policy, trade association, corporate business and people skills (…) Her vision is exactly what IAB Europe needs as our industry faces its next phase of growth and the challenges that come with this.

Constantine Kamaras,

IAB Europe’s Chairman & founder of IAB Greece.

 IAB has an unmatched European footprint of Internet giants that are household names and small, cutting-edge companies represented in its national federations. Its membership includes some of the most innovative and exciting firms active in the digital economy today. Another major strength is that it combines policy engagement with business services that support the commercial bottom line – this is unusual in EU-level associations and gives it greater authority in regulatory discussions as well as providing more value for members.

 Townsend Feehan

At the same time Alison Fennah is moving to a new role of Senior Business Advisor and will be providing a range of business services to IAB Europe through her company i-Media Research and Marketing.

IAB Europe’s AdEx Benchmark 2012 reported that the online advertising sector accounted for 25.6% (€24.3bn) of total advertising spend in 2012 with an overall year-on-year growth of 11.5% despite the toughest economic climate for the broader advertising market since 2009. Online advertising spend surpassed newspaper advertising investment for the first time in 2012, as a result becoming the second-biggest media category in Europe and attracting one in every four advertising Euros.

This is an exciting industry to be in right now, with growth outpacing that in the broader economy. We are starting to see a realisation amongst policymakers that advertising-based online services have a distinct and enduring place in the rich and complex ecosystem that is the Internet

Townsend Feehan

Stephanie Hospital, Vice Chairman of IAB Europe and VP of Orange Digital, concluded “IAB is a brand with both international name-recognition and a strong European identity based on the engagement of European corporates and 26 national trade associations. It plays an important role in policy and business, leveraging the rich technical expertise in our network.”

IAB Europe will host the 8th edition of its Interact conference in Paris on May 20-21 with the theme of “Creating a new era for growth”, partnering with the Cristal Festival Network – 2 C Associés.