2017 Election Nominees

DAA is pleased to present the 2017-2018 DAA Board of Director nominees. The voting period is open from May 1 through May 12, 2017 at 11:59 PM ET. There are a total of seven Board seats up for election, in the below two sections.  Members have received an email with a unique voting link, if you were a member at the start of the voting period and did not receive an email please contact the membership office.

Please note the following important reminders:

  • Only one ballot can be submitted by each voting member.
  • Only the votes received during the specified timeframe will be counted as cast votes. Late ballot submissions will not be accepted.
  • The set of members eligible to vote in a Director election are those that were members of the DAA in good standing at the start of the voting period.
  • All votes will remain confidential.

4 Slate Candidates

Click a name to expand or collapse nominee information panel.

Nominee Name:   Jennifer Frigault 
Nominee Company:  Gannett | USA TODAY Network 
Nominee Job Title: Vice President, Business Intelligence 
Country is which nominee is located:  USA 
Nominee Sector (Academic / Consultant / Practitioner / Vendor):  Practitioner 
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-frigault-855a8a/

Over 15 years of experience leading analytical efforts that are responsible for setting the roadmap of Gannett’s digital analytics strategy.  Currently the Vice President of Business Intelligence for Gannett (which owns USA TODAY, and over 110 newsrooms across the country), as the leader and champion for the use and management of analytical intelligence to drive and measure company performance across its digital platforms.  I lead a team of talented Business Intelligence and Content strategy analysts across the country, that serve as the central point for connecting the results of efforts to increase our audience acquisition, retention, engagement and monetization across the Marketing, Product, Content, and Revenue operations.  

In addition to the digital analytical experience I have gained through my tenure at Gannett, I also have over 8 years of experience in qualitative market research: Survey design and analysis, usability testing, focus group moderation, a role that I held for a time leading the Customer Behavior and Analysis team at USATODAY.com.  In this role, I implemented the first web analytics system for the company (Visual Sciences) before moving to the Gannett Digital division to build and manage the first cross divisional Analytics team.  I also led the business requirements design and implementation of the first Digital data warehouse for the Gannett company, ingesting data from major analytical, ad serving and revenue data providers, and providing a central source for all data analytics relating to the digital strategy of the company. 

I currently hold a board position on the Media Ratings Council Digital committee, which allows me to stay intimately involved in the issues and vendors that affect the greater Digital analytical community.  I have held additional analytical and research positions at Verisign, Network Solutions, and Federal Sources prior to my time at Gannett that allowed me to gain valuable experience in the traditional market research discipline.  

What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?

For the last 5 years I have been a member of, and served on, the Steering Committee of the DAA Media Special Interest Group.  This Media SIG is the largest and most active SIG within the DAA, due to the leadership and commitment of its members.  I would like to take the model of trust, best practices and learnings we have worked so hard to develop and maintain within the Media SIG, and expand it to form other groups in additional disciplines.  A robust community of dedicated groups of trust and commonality will strengthen the DAA relationships, analytical practices and career growth of our members.

How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?

I can bring leadership and best practices in forming smaller communities within the DAA. The DAA mission is centered around professional development and community, and often times in big organizations the intimacy and bonds that can push members to take risks, share information and go out of their way to help one another succeed -- get lost.  Through sharing real world best practices, discussing issues with staffing, and leadership and vendors (where allowed!) and having a “safe zone” that allows for honesty and throwing up your hands to say “help me figure this one out…” is invaluable.   I feel that this middle level of community needs to be developed and fostered further within the overall DAA.

Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years?  How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?

I believe that the DAA has made great strides in becoming a trusted community of analytical professionals, that vendors and practitioners turn to.  I also believe that the DAA should push to be a partner in more of the standards and best practices that are put forth in groups that we all adhere to.  The MRC serves this role in an official capacity, and groups such as DCN and AAM are industry leaders, but the DAA is uniquely positioned with both the vendor and analytical practitioner community to take more of a lead role in recommending and gathering feedback that would help contribute to better vendor practices, standards around digital data, and career paths for our members.  I would like to see us in a leadership role over the next couple of years – gaining a more formal seat at the table.

Nominee Name: Ned Kumar 
Nominee Company: FedEx Services 
Nominee Job Title: Manager Marketing 
Country is which nominee is located: USA 
Nominee Sector (Academic / Consultant / Practitioner / Vendor): Practitioner  
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nkumar2008

Ned Kumar has over twenty five years of experience in customer analytics and marketing strategy, with expertise in both online and offline channels. His current focus is Digital Marketing Transformation and on increasing Marketing ROI.

Throughout his career he has played a leadership role in designing data-driven customer strategies that create exceptional customer experience and establish a competitive advantage while improving productivity. Ned is a member of various professional organizations, on the Board of Directors at the Digital Analytics Association and also an instructor for the University of British Columbia’s Award of Achievement in Digital Analytics Program.

Ned has also been a speaker and/or panel member at various conferences including NCDM, Digital Marketing Exchange, Shopper Insights in Action, Computerworld BI & Analytics Perspectives, eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit, Big Data Exchange, Conversion Conference and Search Optimization related meets.

In his previous job as an Asst. Professor of Marketing & Management, Ned taught senior level courses in Strategy, Quantitative Analysis, and Decision Support and has numerous conference and journal publications to his credit.

What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?

I have been a member of DAA for the past ten years and during that period I have actively participated in various committees including the Standards committee (part of the core-team that worked on the first Standards Document), Research Committee, Education Committee and the Certification Board.  I currently serve on the Board of Digital Analytics Association and was part of the core-team that developed the Competency Framework for Digital Analytics professionals.

What I bring to the table is a rich experience of working with pretty much all channels and an ability to clearly conceptualize how various pieces of the puzzle (tools, technology, culture, analytics, education) should work together to deliver the best value -- both to the customers and for an organization.

Having been both a practitioner and an academic, I intend on leveraging resources from both sectors to deliver value to our members and community in the areas of professional development, career growth, education, and networking.

How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?

I sincerely believe that the best way to increase the value of DAA is to deliver value to the digital community, especially in the area of professional development. To this end, I continuously strive to participate in various initiatives or tasks that allows me to contribute to that value – sometimes directly through project guidance and/or participation and sometimes indirectly through other avenues like teaching.

For the past many years, as a tutor of the UBC program I have taught and mentored many folks getting into the digital analytics space. I am extremely proud of this opportunity to help people break into the digital analytics field.

As a current Board member, I assisted in the development of the Digital Analytics Competency Framework, reviewed the Compensation survey results, and provided guidance on areas that will help the community in terms of education, professional development, hiring, and career growth. 

Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years?  How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?

I consider the next 2 years to be the era of increasing the DAA professional development footprint and globalization.

There are many areas that DAA can touch on along these two fronts.

  • Education/Evangelization:  Along with value-add tools like the Competency Framework, the DAA should continue to educate the community   on the various areas as it relates to analytics (including culture, change management, and privacy).  Further, there are still many areas in the world that are not as advanced in terms of using analytics as the US or Europe and we should find avenues to best diffuse and disseminate information help expand our community & practice.
  • Marketing: Analytics is still an “under-valued” and misunderstood area in many organizations.  Added to that is the fact that many firms are still ‘unaware’ of DAA and what it does. I think we can do a lot to help diffuse this issue. Working hand-in-hand with Education, the DAA should put some rigor into how best to promote the value that DAA brings to an organization & to the digital marketing community and how we can help organizations in better serving their customers. To this end, I expect the DAA website to evolve into a central hub for learning and development.
  • Growth: Having been a practitioner for over 20 years and an Academic before that, I strongly believe that partnering with Educational institutions can add value to the community.  I would want the DAA to strive for an increased membership and partnership with the educational institutions. Along similar lines, there is a tremendous growth and partnership potential for DAA outside of the US and so we should look for selective opportunities to grow globally.

In terms of assisting DAA in pursuing these goals, as a Board member I am already actively contributing to the professional development sector by being part of or leading initiatives tied to it.

Further, having worked on various committees on the DAA, being a tutor for the UBC Web Analytics program, and being a practitioner in analytics field for over 20 years I feel I have a very good understanding of what the DAA brings to the table and what some of the gaps are in terms of the needs (for students and organizations). I am confident that I can make significant contributions to the DAA in the areas of education and professional development to truly position DAA as the organization of repute in the digital space. 

Nominee Name: Aaron Maass 
Nominee Company: MaassMedia, LLC 
Nominee Job Title: CEO 
Country is which nominee is located: USA 
Nominee Sector (Academic / Consultant / Practitioner / Vendor): Consultant 
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maassmedia/

With 18 years of online marketing industry experience, Aaron Maass is one of the early pioneers of tagbased web analytics.  He co-founded and sold a website traffic tracking and reporting software service called SiteGauge to Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts in 2000, and has led digital analytics initiatives in senior Internet marketing management roles at companies like KPMG, EF Language, Fidelity, DuPont and Comcast, where he was head of e-commerce and web operations.

In 2008 Aaron launched MaassMedia, an independent digital analytics consulting firm based in Philadelphia, where he is currently CEO. Together, he and his team of solution engineers, strategic business analysts and statisticians help clients develop and implement improvements to their digital  analytics capabilities that deliver better audience interactions, inspire new ideas and maximize revenue.

Aaron has a B.A. from Cornell University, is certified in Google Analytics, SiteCatalyst and Six Sigma implementation and has been recognized for his achievements by the Digital Analytics Association (DAA), Interactive Media Council and Web Marketing Association.  He also teaches a course on digital analytics for the Online Marketing Institute and speaks frequently on the topics of online customer engagement, lead generation, predictive modeling and attribution.

In addition to his professional work, Aaron contributes to a variety of charitable causes including the DAA, serving as chairman of the Annual Awards for Excellence in 2011, 2012 and 2013, and the Free Library of Philadelphia, where he serves on the marketing and technology committees and co-chairs the George S. Pepper Society Council. In 2013, Aaron was a recipient of the DAA President's Award for his volunteer work on the DAA Awards for Excellence.

What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?

Serving on the board of a non-profit industry organization like the DAA requires commitment and a selfless passion for advancing a cause.  As a board member I will:

• Be 100% committed to helping the DAA achieve its purpose of providing quality education, developing standards, conducting research and advocating for issues that advance the digital analytics industry.

• Promote and protect members' interests as analytics teachers, practitioners, vendors and consultants in all my dealings both personally and professionally.

• Work to expand the DAA's individual and corporate membership, as well as its worldwide influence over everything analytics.

How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?

There are many ways to contribute.  Because I am personally very passionate about analytics I can assist by dedicating my time, my energy and my experience to help dispel the many myths about measurement, advocate for analytics to those who don't fully understand it, build more trust among mainstream marketers in the data and in us, and otherwise spread the word of the DAA to anyone and everyone I meet.  And if that means wearing a DAA pin on my lapel every day, then so be it.

Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years?  How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?

In my opinion there are many challenges facing the digital marketing industry today (e.g., privacy legislation, standards, education, etc.).  But the biggest one for me is the talent gap.  The demand for analytics expertise far and away outstrips the supply of qualified analysts, despite the incessant buzz of big data and the constant call for data scientists.  If elected to the board of directors of the DAA, I would try to make addressing this gap a priority of mine and the DAA's.

With the combined knowledge capital of our membership’s expertise and the DAA’s influence as a major voice on analytics matters, our Association has the potential to take the lead with other for-profit and non-profit organizations to further the digital analytics profession throughout the world.

In the next two years, I think the DAA can:

• Grow its membership by 25% from 4,000 to over 5,000

• Increase the number of chapters by 50% from 14 to 21 and expand internationally

• Double the number of Certified Web Analysts from 200+ to over 400

Nominee Name: Amy Sample
Nominee Company: Public Broadcasting Service
Nominee Job Title: Sr. Director, Strategic Insights
Country is which nominee is located: USA
Nominee Sector (Academic / Consultant / Practitioner / Vendor): Practitioner
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/amydsample/en

Amy Sample has been analyzing digital consumer behavior for over 20 years. As Senior Director of Strategic Insights at PBS, she and her team are responsible for providing cross-platform analytics and consumer insights to drive strategic initiatives. Prior to PBS, she conducted primary research and audience analysis at AOL for 8 years. She is Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Digital Analytics Association and served as a co-leader of the DAA Washington DC chapter. Amy holds an MBA from Georgetown University and a BS in Marketing from DePaul University.

What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?

In my first term on the board, I participated on the Job Descriptions task force which led to the first set of standardized job descriptions tied to digital analytics competency framework. I served as the board liaison to the Women in Analytics group and to the Media Special Interest Group. I continued to serve the DAA DC chapter as co-lead and chaired the 2016 DC Symposium.

How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?

As a returning board member, I would look to continue expanding our professional development offerings for members. I will work to ensure Women in Analytics is established as a formal program with regular events, calls, and resources for our members. I’d also like to explore an informal mentoring program for our members.

Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years?  How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?

In two years, the DAA should be a stronger organization. We’ve worked hard these last few years to expand the presence of the DAA in the industry and build awareness as an association. I believe we still have ground to cover but the progress this last year has been great. The DAA should be top of mind when employers and analysts are seeking professional development, networking, and employment resources.  

9 Candidates for 3 Open Seats

Click a name to expand or collapse nominee information panel.

Nominee Name: Adam Greco 
Nominee Company: Analytics Demystified 
Nominee Job Title: Senior Partner 
Country is which nominee is located: USA 
Nominee Sector (Academic / Consultant / Practitioner / Vendor): Consultant 
Nominee LinkedIn Profilehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/adamgreco/

I have over a decade of experience in helping organizations get value from digital analytics. I was one of the founders of Omniture and have written the primary book on Adobe Analytics. Over my career in digital analytics, I have attempted to help the community by blogging, speaking at industry events and, most recently, serving on the board of directors of the DAA and serving as its Treasurer. In the past year as Treasurer, I have re-vamped the way the DAA manages its finances and have helped turn deficits into surpluses.

What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?
Continuing to bring new ideas to the DAA, such as the Digital Analytics Cookbook, speaking at DAA events and helping attract new corporate members.

How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?
Having worked on the vendor side, client side and consulting side, I feel that I bring multiple perspectives to the DAA. In the past two years, I have helped the DAA focus on the most useful initiatives and helped restructure the finances so that the DAA can be in the best financial shape possible.

Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years?  How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?
I believe that the DAA should focus on educating as many people in the industry so that anyone wanting a job in digital analytics has the resources to get into the industry. I would also like to see the DAA expand geographically and better meet the needs of non-us organizations.

Nominee Name: Stefanos Karagos 
Nominee Company: XPLAIN  
Nominee Job Title: Data Scientist & Serial Entrepreneur  
Country is which nominee is located: Switzerland   
Nominee Sector (Academic / Consultant /Practitioner / Vendor):  Vendor 
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karagos/

Stefanos Karagos, a Data Scientist and Serial Entrepreneur, is a Pioneer and a Thought Leader in the Technology, Publishing and Marketing sectors.

He is the founder of XPLAIN, a Disruptive Marketing Intelligence Firm, providing Digital Innovation Services to over 138 Global Brands in 40+ countries. His vision is actively shared by a Dream Team of highly skilled professionals with wide expertise in Digital Marketing, Consumer Intelligence and Data & Predictive Analytics.

Stefanos is a popular and non-conventional keynote speaker and his innovative work is internationally recognized – His presentation on Social Media ROI was declared the 3rd most popular Business presentation in the world, while in January 2014 his business presentations on SlideShare were acknowledged of being in the Top 1% of most viewed SlideShare Content worldwide.

Following XPLAIN’s 2015 Gold Prize for Digital Innovation Solutions, last year Stefanos - nominated by his industry colleagues - was recognized as an  Agency INNOVATOR of 2016 by ANA’s Global Partner, the Internationalist. This extraordinary group of 30 individuals from all corners of the globe are embracing change and making a difference for their agencies and for their clients.

What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?

We live in a world where we are overwhelmed with data and analytics. We have data literally for everything; consumer profiling, attitudes and behaviors, tribes and their habits, friends of their friends in respect of Brands’ consumption, adoption and more.

With the use of scientific methods, analytics and algorithms we can evaluate, correlate and even make accurate predictions on how to come up with marketing actionable recipes that work.

This is the field of my expertise and this is what I call Data-Science and Digital Analytics; I will be honored to join DAA and contribute in a better Digital world through Data and Analytics.

How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?

Technology and Analytics are rather intriguing to me! As a kid, I always wanted to challenge myself and go beyond, to the unknown. I have been employed for many years as an Editor in technology magazines where I acquired a habit to communicate best practices with the end user / consumer / communities. As things were progressing, I utilized my mathematical education to go behind the obvious. I was becoming thrilled with the idea of exploring new attitude consumer patterns based on analytics.

So bringing together the community and best practices of how to use data and analytics is a challenge.

I can assist DAA, its communities and members comprehend the digital ecosystem vs. the traditional marketing practices established for years. Help them identify the different dynamics of digital and traditional and act accordingly. In the same time, I will proactively evangelize the use of Data and Analytics to improve the digital Landscape and promote DAA and its values

Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years?  How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?

The future of any Association lies in the ability to understand how to fulfill the needs of the industry and its members and knowing how to utilize current trends in today’s vastly changing market. With the current pace of ambitious expansion, rapid growth of the digital world and the need for analytics, all companies and associations will face challenges in hurdling over the barriers to success. Long term success is defined by being able to funnel the overwhelming amount of data and being on top of the rapidly changing customer behavior.

In this complex environment, it is imperative to be a thought-leader.

With my professional experience, personal knowledge and passion for the industry, I can confidently say I can support the goals and objectives of the DAA and bring forth out of the box thinking to drive real value, with the upmost integrity. It is the new thinking coming from research, data and experimentation - leading with an innovative mindset but also being able to drive tangible results.

Nominee Name: Valerie Kroll 
Nominee Company: UBS 
Nominee Job Title: Director, Digital Analytics & Optimization 
Country is which nominee is located: USA 
Nominee Sector (Academic / Consultant / Practitioner / Vendor): Practitioner  
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriekroll

Valerie Kroll was charged with the responsibility of establishing the digital analytics practice at the American Medical Association in 2013. Even though this was her first role in the digital analytics space, she relied on her previous experience as a Market Researcher, her technical aptitude, and appetite for new challenges to successfully deploy a large-scale custom implementation. She has always been passionate about marketing analytics and quantifying consumer behaviors to inform business strategy. As the Digital Analytics Manager, her team worked with clients across the organization to bring data to the decision-making table. Now as the Director of Digital Analytics & Optimization Program at UBS, she leads her team in testing different client experiences and measuring their impact on the bottom line.

Valerie currently serves as a DAA NYC Chapter Co-Chair, was a finalist for the DAA “Rising Star” award in 2014, and was also a speaker at eMetrics Boston 2014 on how to establish a testing program within an organization in a presentation titled, “A/B Testing from the Ground Up.”

What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?

I would love to make it my personal initiative to enhance the DAA’s Video Content Strategy. I think it is fantastic that every Symposia is recorded, because it’s great content, but it is sad to see that some videos only have 4 views.

I would like to reinvigorate the YouTube channel by giving it a visual facelift (high res logo, banner with correct specs, selecting new thumbnails, etc.) and adding more information about the DAA along with membership CTAs. I also think it would be valuable to create playlists that are organized by content type. Instead of looking through each title in the “2015 Dallas Symposium” to find something relevant, it would be great to watch a collection of videos on “Testing and Personalization.” We could also enrich the video metadata with full descriptions from the Symposium agenda, add speaker details and links to their social media handles, and perhaps most importantly, include a “tl;dr” section to make clear the value proposition of watching.

While the video content isn’t buried on the site, once you land on the “Resource Library” page, it isn’t super obvious that the “Quick Links” take you to the YouTube channel. Perhaps we can make a more prominent home on the site for the video content as well as include links to “content playlists” in DAA email newsletters.

I also think this is a great way to engage members who do not belong to a local chapter. Each month when I receive the New Member List, I feel sad for those who fall into Chapter “NA.” You can read all the books and blogs in the world, but there’s nothing quite like commiserating with someone face to face that’s encountering similar struggles. This visual medium is an opportunity to put a face to the DAA community until there are enough members join in their area to start a chapter!

How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?

Up until four years ago when I got into Digital Analytics, I had only seen a page’s source on accident, and I thought I had broken my computer. I had been making use of WebTrends output for years as a Market Researcher, but I didn’t know anything about the wizardry that got the data in there. When people ask how I learned Digital Analytics I say “self taught,” but that’s actually not true, as it was the Digital Analytics community that taught me how implement software solutions and turn that into meaningful insights for my organization to act on. I couldn’t get enough of Occam’s Razor, Justin Cutroni videos, DAA events and eMetrics conferences; I owe so much to the incredible DAA community.

Should I be elected, I will work to deliver on the community enrichment ideas that exist, as well as source and put forward new ideas from my local NYC chapter. I am interested in supporting the community online and offline with things like gamification badging in the Community section of the site or encouraging “Dinner with Strangers” after Symposium events. Even though there are more programs and college courses around digital analytics today, I also think engaging the next generation of analysts and developers now can help build strong ties to our organization.

Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years?  How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?

  • 2yrs: 20 local chapters 
    How:  Continuously updating the “Chapter in a Box” resource with best practices and success stories from existing chapters, testing engagement in new areas by setting up “Web Analytics Wednesdays” on meetup.com and proactively reaching out to identified individuals in digital analytics rich regions to gauge interest in starting a new chapter.
  • 2yrs: WiA Mentorship program in full swing with 50% participation from female members 
    How:  Soliciting feedback from the pilot and incorporating it into a full launch plan, reducing  friction to sign-up by adding “topics you can mentor” and “topics on which you would like to be mentored” to membership registration, event/webinar sign-ups (progressive profiling style) and add to WiA Community homepage.
  • 2yrs: Add 3rd stratum to Competency Framework called “Practice Area.” As an example, besides Level and Track, perhaps I could take a quiz that highlights what I like best about digital analytics, and combined with my existing score, it could recommend client side vs. agency. You might be a rockstar analyst but better suited for individual contribution versus stepping into a managerial role. For this person, it might recommend consultant.
    How:  Repeat methodology similar to the initial one to gather info and create survey, then use this as the carrot for people to take the quiz for the first time or to update their info now that a new feature was released
  • 2yrs: Deploy Jim Sterne’s reach across the aisle education for the non-analyst initiative 
    How:  I’m not exactly sure what this is, but I was pretty excited about the “food for thought” email. I always tell my internal clients that “my analysis is only as good as the questions they ask,” so we spend a lot of time on how they can get the most out of me and my team. I can see everything from workshops to webinars on this, but I think the biggest driver for success is going to be reaching out to other professional organizations from UXPA to AMA. 

Nominee Name: Evan LaPointe 
Nominee Company: Search Discovery 
Nominee Job Title: Chief Strategy Officer 
Country is which nominee is located: USA 
Nominee Sector (Academic / Consultant / Practitioner / Vendor): Consultant 
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanlapointe/

Evan LaPointe is an industry-recognized entrepreneur, writer and speaker, and is a rare mix of businessman and passionate geek. As the Chief Strategy Officer at Search Discovery, Evan leads long-range planning, evolutions to the business, and marketing strategy.

Evan was the creator and co-founder of Satellite, which was acquired by Adobe Systems and renamed Adobe Dynamic Tag Manager, or DTM. DTM has gone on to be one of the most adopted digital marketing technologies ever, in use on over 50,000 of the world’s largest web sites. Post-acquisition, Evan spent two years leading innovation inside Adobe’s Marketing Cloud product organization, defining new product and rethinks of existing products and architectures that will better serve the market’s needs and evolve the marketing/experience cloud.

Evan has also quantitative modeling and valuation techniques from his time in finance to pioneer many techniques in the digital analytics space, including marketing attribution, response analysis, assist and latency analysis. He currently has a patent pending on techniques for cross-platform data capture and management and another for server-side decisioning methods.

What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?

Breadth of experience with brands in the space. Entrepreneurial experience and approach. Long history and competence across DAA’s areas of focus.

How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?

I’ve been involved with the WAA and DAA in various roles for about 8 or 9 years. I wrote some of the early mission statements and views of this org and understand its charter and potential well. I can specifically help us create and uphold a more tangible, measurable, and demonstrated set of objectives and vision together with other board members.

Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years?  How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?

My personal take on this is that the DAA has an opportunity to take better advantage of the possibilities to provide broad vision to the industry at large and act as a resource to organizations who are trying to define excellence in this field. In a sense, the association can advocate for the practitioners while simultaneously creating a set of expectations for them - both propelling them to greater heights, but also setting the bar higher (push and pull). I would be able to help with this through my credibility and relationships in the industry. It’s my hope that the DAA have significant representation in any expression of what our field “should be,” including but not limited to Forrester and Gartner research, best practices taught by the largest consulting agencies including McKinsey, Deloitte, Sapient, Accenture; be cited regularly when organizations seek to measure and internally communicate their maturity and capabilities, and throughout other related areas. There are many ways to achieve this, and it won’t be overnight, but significant results can and will be seen early and often.

I also think there are opportunities to gain a lot of additional traction within chapters and take things to the next level with local events and networking. I have a lot to learn about what the DAA is doing already and where they’re seeing successes, I’ll admit, but I see this as another opportunity.

Nominee Name: Tracy Rabold 
Nominee Company: E-Nor, Inc. 
Nominee Job Title: Digital Analytics Consultant 
Country is which nominee is located: USA 
Nominee Sector (Academic / Consultant / Practitioner / Vendor): Consultant 
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyrabold/

In her current position as a Senior Consultant at E-Nor, Tracy works with a range smaller to very large enterprises – including some of the most recognized global brands  – as well as with U.S. federal agencies to build robust measurement strategies and guide complex implementations.

With a particular focus on analysis and storytelling, she also works directly with stakeholders to gain insight from their data and to take action.

Tracy has authored several content pieces, including KPIs vs. Metrics on the E-Nor blog (https://goo.gl/TfrnFH) and Google Analytics Benchmarking Reports in Google Analytics Breakthrough: From Zero to Business Impact (https://goo.gl/3dSZhm).

As a steadfast supporter of the DAA San Francisco chapter, Tracy has helped to organize many of the local networking events, and she'll also be serving as E-Nor's representative on the DAA Corporate Advisory Board.  She also volunteers her time with civic organizations such as Project Homeless Connect in San Francisco.

Tracy holds a BA in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA in Finance, Marketing, and Accounting from the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago. E-Nor is a Google Analytics and Google Cloud Platform Certified Partner based in Santa Clara, California.

What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?

With her keen ability to identify opportunities and to accomplish a great deal in a short amount of time, Tracy will help the DAA to identify short- and long-term objectives, and then to plan and execute.

On an even more personal note, Tracy first connected with E-Nor at a DAA event, and she also discovered previous career opportunities and began professional affiliations at other industry conferences, so she truly understands the power and the synergy of real connections with other members of the digital analytics community.

How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?

Coming to digital analytics after years of experience as a Wall Street analyst, Tracy grasps the importance of cross-pollination across verticals and job roles and embraces the dynamic transformations that our industry is experiencing.

In addition to managing the more traditional Web analytics implementations, Tracy also guides data engineering projects and would help the DAA to further develop its professional development offerings in the areas of data integration and reporting automation.

Well versed in business and productivity technologies, Tracy would also help the DAA to continue their development and adoption of the platforms that will best serve the community.

Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years? How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?

Tracy would help to meaningfully guide the DAA in furthering the learning resources and networking opportunities that we all need to stay updated, relevant, and connected in the digital analytics industry.

Nominee Name: Steen Rasmussen 
Nominee Company: IIH Nordic 
Nominee Job Title: Senior Partner 
Country is which nominee is located: Denmark 
Nominee Sector (Academic / Consultant / Practitioner / Vendor): Consultant 
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steenrasmussen/

EXPERIENCE

DEDUCTA APS: Founder, director of analysis and research – June 2001/May 2005

DIGITAL ANALYTICS ASSOCIATION: Chairman of the Certification Committee – September 2012 -

DIGITAL ANALYTICS ASSOCIATION: Board member in the Membership Committee – October 2007 /September 2012

DIGITAL ANALYTICS ASSOCIATION: 2013, 2014 & 2015 Awards for excellence Judge – February 2013/February 2015

DIGITAL ANALYTICS ASSOCIATION: Country Chairman DAA Denmark – November 2008/present

E-handelsfonden: Member of advisory board – October 2012/present

The official non-profit organization dedicated to ensure trust in online commerce and responsible for the national digital trustmark . 

The advisory board functions as a group of the leading specialist within online strategy, e-business, user behavior, SEA and digital analytics who help develop emærket further.

GOOGLE: Google Academy Program Trainer and Speaker – June 2013/present

As a Google Partner Academy Program Trainer, my mission is to train, strengthen and improve other Google Partners Agencies in Digital Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Analytics and Sales.

IIH NORDIC: Founder, Director of analysis, research and user motivation – May 2005/present

Head of Analysis and Research. Responsible for maintaining a competent team of analysts

EDUCATION

ROSKILDE UNIVERSITY: Cand.Scient.Soc in Public Relations, Public relation – business communication – 1987/1993

OMNITURE: OCP, Omniture Certified Professional: Support – 2008

WEB ANALYTICS ASSOCIATION: Certified Web Analyst. Applied Web Analytics – 2010

COPENHAGEN BUSINESS SCHOOL: CBS Executive board education, executive board work – 2013/2014

What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?

Since its establishment in 2005, Steen has been one of the driving forces of IIH Nordic which have led the agency to become voted Danish Digital Analytics Agency of the Year the last 5 years in a row by an independent group of more than 700 senior and C-level marketing professionals. Today, the company plays an imperative role in digital analytics in the Nordic region as the largest independent agency in the region with more than 15 traditional dedicated web analysts and more than 20 specialized digital analyst on staff and is currently expanding its reach with customers across Europe and the Middle East.   

In addition, being a Country Spokesperson for DAA Denmark since 2008, Steen initiated the DAA Linkedin Group in 2009 that today with almost 20.000 members presents one of the largest forums for serious analytics practitioners. Over the following years he also served as a member of the membership committee and following that as Chair of the Certification Committee where he still serves. He has currently been nominated twice for Practitioner of the Year in 2014 and 2015 and as Industry Contributor in 2016 for the DAA Awards of Excellence.

Steen continues to prove his dedication and passion for analytics and willingness to take a leadership role planning, marketing and hosting 4 or 5 free Web Analytics Wednesday Symposium in Denmark every year since 2008 with a turnout of more than 350 people the last couple of years. I 2017 the Web Analytics Wednesday Symposium concept will also for the first time be rolled out in both Holland and The United Arabic Emirates to spread the gospel to these regions as well.

A globally recognized speaker and Google Partner Academy Trainer, he has been sharing his insights, experiences and his knowledge globally as keynote ranging from the Nordics to Silicon Valley, over New York, to Barcelona, Dubai and Mumbai.  

How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?

Having been in the online media and web analytics industry for more than 16 years has served  well and enabled Steen to both share, learn and specialize, but more importantly to spark his aspirations to innovate and keep improving the digital analytics industry. 

Steen is one of those people who radically understand and sees digital analytics as the underlying engine of the business development and thus he has been specializing in connecting digital analytics data with specific business or organizational objectives

Steen is one of the persons who continuously breathe life into digital analytics through his understanding and willingness to educate how data drives business.

Over the years I have already proven that I am clearly both willing and able to invest the time required from my side to be part of the DAA work.

Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years?  How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?

Analytics have gone through a major transition over the last 10 years, from an exclusive club for the devoted specialists to a widespread discipline still master by few but performed by many. Both the numbers of practitioners and tools have gone through the roof moving analytics as an activity from the very rare to the almost mainstream.

At the same time the focus on data in the organizations and businesses have grown to an extent that have shifted the interest in digital data from a blue ocean toward a red. Today more and more players ranging from BI over CRM to Marketing Automation all claim that the digital data is simply a subset and a part of their offering and thinking.

The themes AI and Machine Learning are also beginning to intrude offering faster and more elaborate analysis extending the complexity of analysis we are capable of handling from the simple to the extremely complex, but also change the basic skill and mind set required to a digital analyst.

Digital Analytics is in a transition and the DAA need to adapt to follow the world we live in and make sure that the digital analytics profession get a chance to consolidate and grown in its own right rather than being cannibalized as a subset by another professional area.

Community section of the site or encouraging “Dinner with Strangers” after Symposium events. Even though there are more programs and college courses around digital analytics today, I also think engaging the next generation of analysts and developers now can help build strong ties to our organization. 

Nominee Name: Steve Riegel 
Nominee Company: Merkle 
Nominee Job Title: Sr. Director, Solution Consulting 
Country is which nominee is located: USA 
Nominee Sector (Academic / Consultant / Practitioner / Vendor): Consultant 
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveriegel/

Steve Riegel has over 20 years of expertise in research, marketing and analytics to establish his belief that marketing is simple; it’s just the tactics that make it seem complex. Steve creates clarity for his clients’ marketing strategies by tying vision to action. He has spent his career helping clients plan, execute and optimize the right marketing efforts to drive their business. 

Prior to joining Merkle as a Director, Solution Consulting, Steve co-founded Denver’s B2B marketing agency Faction Media.  He filled three critical roles: as director of search marketing, director of insights and analytics and as partner. Steve ultimately helped Faction Media grow from startup to $10 million in revenue in just five years.  Steve is an active member of the Digital Analytics Association (forming the initial Denver Chapter in 2016), the Business Marketing Association and the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO). He served on the SEM Metrics & Standards Task Force and is a past nominee for the SEMPO Board of Directors.

Example Engagements

•     Financial--KPI development to redefine how Corporate Marketing measures thought leadership effectiveness.  Information Value Chain creation (objectives to collection to reporting) for Private Wealth portal to surface and measure personalized content across multiple platforms

•     Retailer--Development of Testing Culture Program for Client from software evaluation to implementation to creation/documentation/execution of testing process.  Tests showed uplift of $1m+ annual in changes to shipping rates and product personalization to channel audiences

•     Manufacturer-- Digital Marketing Agency of Record for 8 years focused on Search Marketing, Analytics and Digital Campaigns for B2C audiences (Homeowners) and B2B audiences (Big Box retailers, Contractors, Distributors, Architects, Building owners, Specificers) .  Successfully drove Awareness, Consideration and Purchase Intent across all products

•     IT Service--Architected data collection and success measurements around Multichannel demand generation programs targeting the department of Homeland Security.  Mapped Campaign Ripple effects from list generation to marketing automation to social to brand touches to CRM for targeted audiences

Exposure

•     Industry Publications/Keynotes/Events - AMA, SEMPO, BMA, SNL Financial, B2B Magazine, CMSwire, SmallBiz America, SearchCon, Adobe Summit

Certifications

•     Adobe Business Practitioner

•     ABM Certification: Advanced - Demandbase

Continuing Education

•     Digital Analytics, University of British Columbia

•     Google Adwords/Analytics, Cardinal Path

•     Online Testing, Marketing Sherpa/MECLabs

What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?

1 to 1 People Based Marketing Perspective, Vision, Strategy and Tactics from a global organizational point of view.

How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?

My role with Merkle balances future vision with current execution and is all centered on how to best meet the needs of the customer.  Specifically, I would work with fellow board members in identifying how to meet the needs of the current membership (education, vision, connection) with the recruitment of future members and member organizations.  I would work closely with the Executive Director in understanding current state and how to best move forward.  As a marketer first, I would work to enhance our efforts at growth across all channels and in each market (US and globally).

Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years? 

It’s quite simple, the world of digital analytics is both expanding (globalizing and heading cross platforms) and heading deep into predictive and machine based learning.  Individuals and Organizations will struggle to keep up with the advancements in technology and the abilities to process information at scale in real time.  Our role as the DAA is to help identify the trends that matter, cull and create the thought leadership necessary and train the future analysts to drive and thrive in this world.  We will shape the future and dive deeper into understanding how companies will best understand and ultimately use data in all its forms. 

How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?

I have context and contacts globally around where analytics is heading and have an active role in my organization to make data accessible and actionable for our clients.  I will work to keep the DAA at the forefront of communicating where the world is getting better through data.   

Nominee Name: Keiko Sutton 
Nominee Company: AOL (eventually to be called Oath) 
Nominee Job Title: Sr Director, Operations Analytics 
Country is which nominee is located:  USA 
Nominee Sector (Academic / Consultant / Practitioner / Vendor): Practitioner 
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keikosutton/


Keiko Sutton is currently a Senior Director of Operations Analytics at AOL and has been working in the field of audience analytics for close to 10 years.  She is oversees the centralized measurement and analytics of AOL’s owned and operated assets.  Keiko earned her MBA from George Washington University and is a member of the Media Special Interest Group at the DAA.

What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?

I have a deep understanding in what analysts/analytics can do to succeed in a large enterprise setting – from providing deep-dive analysis to becoming the source of truth and helping businesses make key decisions in the area of product development, audience development, portfolio management, performance monitoring, etc.  The analytics industry is rapidly evolving, and analytics practice needs to evolve in order to succeed – I believe this is where my perspective can contribute to DAA.

How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?

I have been a practitioner at AOL and MediaVest for close to a decade and have been at the heart of digital analytics, using data to improve the business decision making process.  I would like to see DAA evolve further looking at the future of big data – especially given the fragmentation of data sources/analytics tools/BI tools in the space, we should collectively be able to create more toolkits to help analysts across the industry.

Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years?  How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?

DAA needs to continue to be relevant to the analyst community and we’re facing increasing challenge due to the fragmentation of devices and data sources (from the desktop age to mobile web/app, OTT, Podcast and more – which resulted in fragmentation of analytical tools).  I firmly believe that this group can take an important role in helping the analysts succeed in the new big data era by providing not only community support but guiding principles of analytics around each of these areas (resources such as measurement handbook, committees to come up with guidelines, meet-ups, more SIGs, etc) 

Nominee Name: Ian Thomas 
Nominee Company: Microsoft Corporation 
Nominee Job Title: Principal Group Program Manager, Data & Analytics 
Country is which nominee is located: USA 
Nominee Sector (Academic / Consultant / Practitioner / Vendor): Practitioner 
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iandthomas/

Ian Thomas has been involved with Digital Analytics for over sixteen years, and an active member of the Digital Analytics Association since 2005.

In 2000 he cofounded UK Web Analytics industry pioneer WebAbacus, leading its product development and marketing efforts. WebAbacus was one of the first Web Analytics companies to focus on online campaign analysis. Ian led partnerships with ad-serving technology firms Atlas and Bluestreak to deliver analytics projects for major media and creative agencies including Carat Digital, Ogilvy:One, mOne (Mindshare Interaction), Tribal DDB and Euro RSCG.

In 2006 Ian joined Microsoft in Seattle, WA to develop web analytics tools to complement the company’s emerging AdCenter (now Bing Ads) search advertising platform. During the next five years, he built out a company-wide data platform to understand monetization across all of Microsoft’s major online properties, including Bing, MSN, Outlook.com and Xbox Live, as well as third-party content partner sites. Ian delivered a string of analytical innovations that helped senior leadership within the company boil down the complexities of the online advertising business and make impactful decisions on how to run the business.

From 2012 to 2015, Ian managed the data & analytics platform for Bing: a highly complex, petabytescale dataset which enables people across the Bing Engineering and Marketing teams to understand the utilization and effectiveness of the Bing search engine. In this role, Ian worked closely with analysts and data scientists to deliver insights that helped Microsoft double the share of searches performed on Bing in the US.

Since 2015, Ian has run digital marketing operations for a slew of Microsoft’s biggest brands, includingWindows, Xbox, Surface and Bing. In this role he manages a comprehensive customer-centric dataset known as User 360, which brings together behavioral and attitudinal data across Microsoft’s products, together with predictive attributes, into a comprehensive user profile. This dataset is used to power high-scale targeted digital marketing activities across multiple channels, including email, web, mobile and in-product messaging, and is used by data scientists to understand the long-term health of Microsoft’s customers. In his role, Ian partners with multiple external analytics vendors and agencies, as well as marketing automation and analytics technology vendors, to identify innovative ways to deliver value from data.

Alongside his technical and business skills, Ian is an accomplished public speaker, and has spoken at several eMetrics summits over the years; he maintains a blog about the challenges of data and measurement in the digital marketing industry, at www.liesdamnedlies.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @ian_thomas.

What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?

I’ve been a member of the DAA almost since its founding, and have seen the organization grow and flourish in the last twelve years. In this time, I’ve also seen the demands and expectations of digital analytics professionals change dramatically, as I’ve built data and analytics teams within Microsoft. I have a deep understanding of the politics and personalities involved with building a high-functioning data practice within a large organization; I believe passionately that organizational maturity is as important to the success of data-driven initiatives as are individual skills and competencies. I would love to help DAA members identify strategies to maximize the impact of their work through driving organizational design and evolution, and influencing senior leadership.

My years at Microsoft have also exposed me to a wide range of data types, technologies and issues, from the very high scale and complexity of Bing search data to the policy and privacy controls associated with opt-in communications permissions, and I’ve had first-hand experience on several strategies (successful and unsuccessful) in dealing with these challenges, which I would be keen to share with DAA members. Finally, my European roots and the global nature of Microsoft’s business make me well positioned to help the DAA with its international membership goals.

How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?

As I mentioned in a blog post last year entitled “The Seven People You Need on your Data Team”, making effective use of data to drive business outcomes is a team sport. Analysts and Data Scientists are crucial to the team, but they need to operate in close partnership with engineers, marketers, privacy specialists and senior leadership to achieve their goals. Building such teams is exactly what I’ve been doing at Microsoft over the last ten years. I will help DAA members identify and advocate for the right team models for delivering and actioning digital analytics insights in their organizations; for more junior members, this means being able to identify teams and companies with the right culture and ethos. For more senior members, I can share my experiences building teams that work together well and bring complementary skills to the table.

Community is a hugely important part of the DAA’s charter. As the DAA continues to grow and mature there is scope to connect its members on more than just a geographical level, through the creation of discipline-based special interest groups or other discipline-focused networking opportunities. As many DAA members are now quite experienced, we can also create opportunities for more junior members to build mentoring relationships with these more experienced members. This will help with career growth for the junior members, and provide opportunities for senior members to develop their thinking about how to grow and coach more junior analysts and build effective teams.

Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years? How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?

Digital Analytics, like Digital Marketing itself, is rapidly evolving to encompass more advanced Data

Science activities, including data modeling and predictive analytics. In the next few years, the DAA needs to provide help its members develop their skills in this direction and connect into broader Data Science communities, competencies and educational resources. I’ll help the DAA with this by drawing on my experience in this space to establish a predictive analytics SIG for the DAA, and identifying opportunities for the DAA to connect with other organizations & communities that focus on predictive analytics. Additionally, in the next two years, the digital analytics industry will need to grapple with a rapidly changing regulatory and privacy landscape, with new EU rules on data privacy set to take effect in 2018.

DAA members will need a solid understanding of how to comply with the new regulations, together with any new rules put in place in the US, to avoid substantial fines. In my work at Microsoft I am deeply involved with our privacy and legal teams to ensure Microsoft is gathering and using personal data appropriately, and I can bring my perspective in this area to the DAA and its members.

Finally, the DAA will need to expand its international footprint in the coming years, not just in Europe but also in Asia. Both regions offer their own set of unique challenges – for example, China has a particular set of data sovereignty rules which limit the movement of data outside its borders. I would be happy to leverage my experience operating in these markets to help the DAA grow its membership and activities in these markets, to bring a broader international community of digital analytics professionals together.