Brian Lesser recently launched AT&T’s new advertising company, Xandr, one of four distinct business units operating under AT&T Inc. In this role, Brian is creating a better solution for advertisers and publishers to find and reach specific audiences at scale in a trusted, premium content environment. He recently oversaw the successful acquisition of AppNexus, which will serve as the foundation of a premium video marketplace that will provide advertisers, publishers, and most importantly consumers with relevant advertising capabilities. This premium advertising marketplace will focus on brand-safe, content – across screens – that takes advantage of AT&T’s valuable content, distribution, technology, and consumer insights. Brian previously served as CEO of GroupM North America, the world’s largest media investment management organization, which applies data and technology to maximize the value of advertising for many of the world’s largest companies. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing strategy and operations for GroupM’s 16 leading agencies and specialist companies in North America, including Mindshare, Mediacom, Wavemaker, Essence and Xaxis. Before that, Brian was global CEO of Xaxis, a company he founded in 2011 and built to over $1 billion in revenue. Under his leadership, Xaxis became the pacesetter for the programmatic advertising industry, pioneering technology firsts and expanding via several acquisitions and investments in the burgeoning advertising technology market. At Xaxis, Brian oversaw the development of more than 40 new offices and brought programmatic advertising to such major markets as Asia and Latin America. Prior to that, he was senior vice president and general manager of the Media Innovation Group, where he launched the first data management platform for agencies and was instrumental in creating the first and largest agency trading desk. He also served as vice president-Product Management at 24/7 Media, a global media and technology firm acquired by WPP in 2007. Brian has been recognized for his role in the ad industry’s shift to more data- and technology-driven model. He was recently named one of AdWeek’s “Executive of the Year” and Power 100. Other honors include: Crain 100, a list of the top disrupters and change-makers in business, “Five Advertising Executives to Watch” by the Wall Street Journal, and in 2014 he was named to Ad Age’s 40 Under 40 list. Brian has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University.

Source: AT&T Inc. on 09/09/2019