CONTENTS...CONTENTS PAGE 2 Mobile Marketer MOBILE WOMEN TO WATCH 2012 PAGE 3. Welcome Giselle Tsirulnik 4. Lisa Abramson Rhythm NewMedia 5. Tricia Cervenan Quicken Loans 6. Marjorie

CONTENTS

Mobile Marketer MOBILE WOMEN TO WATCH 2012PAGE 2

PAGE

3. Welcome Giselle Tsirulnik

4. Lisa Abramson Rhythm NewMedia

5. Tricia Cervenan Quicken Loans

6. Marjorie DeHey Daleo MEF America 7. Diana Epstein Jumptap

8. Charlotte Fors mBlox

9. Gay Gabrilska Hipcricket

10. Alison Gensheimer Velti

11. Kayla Green iconmobile

12. Katie Grisko PETCO Animal Supplies

13. Ghazal Haque American Express

14. Beth Jacobs The Washington Post

15. Diana LaGattuta Nokia

PAGE

16. Gefen Lamdan Celtra Inc.

17. Beth Lawrence The Weather Channel

18. Jennifer McCoy Ballyhoo Mobile Marketing

19. Julie Novack Vibes Media

20. Elena Perez Medialets

21. Elyse Phillips Appcelerator

22. Tiina Piirsoo NBCUniversal

23. Martine Reardon Macy’s

24. Erin O’Neil Schultz Google

25. Veronica Sonsev insparq

26. Alex Warner Air2Web

27. Thi Linh Wernau skyrockit

28. Viki Zabala Fiksu

Welcome


Mobile Commerce Daily covers news and analysis of mobile marketing, media and commerce. The Napean franchise comprises Mobile Marketer, MobileMarketer.com, the Mobile Marketer Daily newsletter, MobileMarketingDaily.com, MobileCommerceDaily.com, MCommerceDaily.com, the Mobile Commerce Daily newsletter, MobileNewsLeader.com, Classic Guides, webinars, the Mobile Marketing Summit, Mcommerce Summit, Mobile FirstLook and awards. ©2011 Napean LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission.

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Mickey Alam KhanEditor in [email protected]

Giselle TsirulnikDeputy Managing [email protected]

Chantal TodeAssociate [email protected]

Rimma KatsStaff [email protected]

Jodie SolomonDirector, Ad [email protected]

Lauren JohnsonEditorial [email protected]

Mobile Marketer’s Mobile Women to Watch 2012 list cele-brates the smart women who are expected to make a differ-

ence in mobile advertising, marketing, media and commerce in 2012. We go long on this crew.

Like their peers on last year’s list, those who made the cut this time shared the same qualities: dedication to craft, ambition, leadership potential, educator and role model. And like last year’s crop, they’ve got their eyes on the prize.

In an industry that focuses so much on technology, there are more men in mobile than women. This guide is meant to cel-ebrate these 25 women who have made and continue to make an impact on the mobile space.

Letter and spiritThese 25 women executives span category behemoths such as The Washington Post, Macy’s and Quicken Loans.

Also on the list are executives from Hipcricket, Velti, MEF, Rhythm NewMedia, Jumptap and more.

Mobile Marketer readers and team members were asked to nom-inate candidates for Mobile Women to Watch. A list was then created after deliberation.

Finally, Mobile Marketer’s Rimma Kats, Chantal Tode, Jodie Solo-mon, Mickey Alam Khan, Lauren Johnson and yours truly arrived at a list of executives who showed the most promise to push the mobile envelope in 2011. Many thanks to Lauren for her art direction.

In their responses to the questionnaire sent to them, these hon-orees emphasized their enthusiasm for mobile, acknowledge-ment of the challenges ahead, role as educator and willingness to work on teams that attracted more women to mobile.

Mining talentA few readers and marketers may quibble why a list for women and not for men. The reality is, there are not enough women in mobile marketing or mobile commerce, and fewer still from the minorities. This is one way to recruit them to mobile.

And as much as this list was created to address the imbalance, it is performance that carries the day for those in the field.

As mobile evangelists within their organizations, these execu-tives have a heavy burden to carry.

Not only are they a minority in the industry, but they are also a minority in overall marketing.

While mobile is the fastest-growing marketing and commerce medium, it still has to prove its ROI every day, regardless of facts such as critical mass of consumers and handsets that border on sophisticated computers performing all functions to enable work, home and fun activities.

These 25 executives who made the Mobile Women to Watch 2012 list are poised to make a difference in mobile in 2012. Fol-low their progress and be inspired: they are at the new frontier of marketing and commerce, and their brains are the best picks and shovels in the business.

Giselle TsirulnikDeputy Managing [email protected]

PAGE 4 Mobile Marketer MOBILE WOMEN TO WATCH 2012

Lisa AbramsonDirector of marketingRhythm NewMediaMountain View, CA

“We should focus on raising the visibility of women in our industry by encouraging women to speak on panels”What do you most like about your job?I love that each day at Rhythm we are pushing the bounds and defining what brand advertising on mobile should be. There is never a dull mo-ment and I thrive on the fast-paced and creative environment. The people I work with at Rhythm are truly the best of the best so their passion and hard work motivates me.

It has been particularly rewarding to develop and release Rhythm’s indus-try leading quarterly insights reports, which have now have become the go-to source for information on mo-bile video advertising. What is the biggest challenge in your job?When you are working for a compa-ny in such an exciting and growing space, there is always the challenge of trying to prioritize what to get done with the resources at hand.

What is your work priority for 2012?For me, 2012 will be all about brand advertising on mobile. Mobile has thus far been pigeonholed as a transactional medium, but this year we will see the rise of mobile brand advertising through video and other immersive ad units within premium media properties. What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?We are already moving in the right direction as an industry. At Rhythm, we have grown the number of wom-en in the company substantially over the last two years. We should focus on raising the visibility of women in our industry by encouraging women to speak on panels, to be active lead-ers in trade associations, and take on other external roles. Speaking to the momentum of wom-en in the mobile marketing space, we actually just hired three new ac-

count directors on our mobile sales team and I am proud to say that all of them are women. Keep an eye out for them.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?I am proud to have been a catalyst for Rhythm’s early focus into adver-tising within apps. As someone who stood in line for the first iPhone and eagerly awaited the launch of the App Store, I held a strong conviction that this is where an opportunity in mobile video advertising was. As the first woman on our execu-tive team and an evangelist for the potential of apps, I encouraged this strategic decision. This move ulti-mately helped established Rhythm as the leader in premium mobile video advertising. I am energized to be playing a significant part in the brand marketing revolution thats taking place in mobile.


Tricia CervenanMobile development product managerQuicken LoansDetroit, MI

“There will be a natural progression within marketing teams to include more women as the channel evolves”

What do you like most about your job?We try new things every day in mar-keting in our effort to be engineered to amaze.

Because mobile marketing is still so new, we push boundaries and experi-ment without a fear of failing. It is really a playground to try and create the most interesting, innovative, and easy-to-use experience we can for our clients. What is the biggest challenge in your job?Mortgages are not sexy. And with mobile being the hot new thing, we are currently competing with tech-nology startups when it comes to hiring new talent.

Quicken Loans is a technology com-pany that does mortgages, and we are proud to have been named to Fortune magazine’s list of the coun-try’s “100 Best Companies To Work For” eight consecutive years, ranking as high as No. 2, and named in the Top-15 of Computerworld maga-

zine’s “100 Best Places to Work In Technology” for six years in a row.

Our mobile team runs like a startup. Developers can get the job security of an established company, yet still experience a grassroots work envi-ronment of a small company that thrives on innovation. What is your work priority for 2012?Our priority for 2012 is to make Quicken Loans the company to watch in mobile. Being the nation’s largest online retail mortgage lender, we became the first mortgage pro-vider to offer home loans in all 50 states from centralized online Web centers, the first to adopt electronic signature technology, and the first to offer the easiest and most efficient mortgage process ever available to consumers through mobile devices. The Quicken Loans mobile team is a creative group, so I am confident we will be able to generate new and ex-citing ways clients can interact with us and get through the mortgage

process even faster. What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?Right now, mobile marketing is being dominated by the technology teams. So most people involved are devel-opers and other IT-minded people who tend to be men.

There will be a natural progres-sion within marketing teams to in-clude more women as the channel evolves. As more companies realize they need to compete within mobile and not just exist there, there will be more positions created for women marketers to take. What is your proudest achieve-ment in mobile?The day we released our first app, MyQL Mobile, to the App Store. It was the first app of its kind and the feedback we have received from our clients so far has been tremendous. They love it.


Marjorie DeHey DaleoGeneral managerMEF North AmericaLondon

“Educating young women to all the great careers in mobile is crucial for the growth of the industry”What do you most like about your job?What I enjoy most about my job at MEF is the amazing clients that I have the opportunity to engage with every day. From big brands to emerg-ing game changing start-ups I get to work with some of the best people in the mobile industry. One of the best things I get to do on a daily basis is to serve as the ultimate connec-tor. Both at MEF and MediaMojos, if I can make an introduction for a client or partner that helps further their business, then that helps grow our industry as well.

I have worked in the entertainment, digital and mobile media industry for over 15 years gaining both techni-cal and business knowledge, so I re-ally enjoy developing new business opportunities across all the lines of business from motion pictures to television to social networking to mcommerce – there is a mobile play in every form of content creation.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?My job is to work with our clients

and partners to ensure that their products give their target-audience an engaging, enabling experience that makes end-users want to in-crease their activity and usage.

I think the biggest challenge of my job is keeping abreast of all the emerging technologies and keeping my clients aware of all the oppor-tunities in the industry. The mobile industry is moving at lightning-fast speeds and I am always amazed at how much the technologies have changed in the past five years. What is your work priority for 2012?For 2012, my priorities are grow-ing MEF’s mcommerce initiative and creating more content distribution opportunities for my clients. MEF’s mcommerce initiative is at the fore-front of the industry as we have part-nered with ASC X9, the U.S. technical group that develops financial indus-try standards, to develop privacy and security standards for mcommerce.

The mobile industry is constantly creating new opportunities for con-

tent distribution, and it is exciting to see what 2012 will bring.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?I think that attracting more women to mobile marketing is important. I believe that initiatives such as Mo-bile Marketer’s promotion of the top women in the industry really help highlight the opportunities in mo-bile for the next generation. I believe that educating young women to all the great careers in mobile is crucial for the growth of the industry.

Your proudest achievement in mobile? My proudest achievement in mobile is growing the Irish mobile and en-tertainment industry. It was a chal-lenge as I was building a brand for a portfolio of smart companies that did not have strong brand recognition in North America. In four years, I grew the Irish telecom and media industry by over $75 million in revenue. The key to this growth was understand-ing the ins and outs of the industry and making smart and strategic con-nections for my clients.


Diana EpsteinAccount executiveJumptapBoston

“Providing a space for women to connect, learn and find mentors is crucial to attracting women to the space”What do you most like about your job?I love that every day is different. The space is evolving so quickly – it is exciting to be a part of an organiza-tion like Jumptap.

I am constantly energized to col-laborate, share, and be creative. I live and breathe mobile – I am con-nected 24/7 to my device, love apps and would much rather lose my wal-let than my phone.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?The biggest challenge is getting cli-ents to think about audience build-ing and move beyond run of network download campaigns. There is a lot of opportunity around custom audi-ence building, negative and positive targeting for app downloads, and custom messaging to cross promote and upsell existing users. There are few marketing teams thinking about how to leverage their current user base outside their existing proper-ties. The ability to target a freemium app’s biggest spenders across our

inventory, to target users stuck at an airport in bad weather that have your travel app and encourage them to book with you – the possibilities are endless.

What is your work priority for 2012?I am going to bring more perfor-mance advertising to brands and agencies. My last role focused on direct response marketing and the results we have seen are not only measurable but have a positive ROI. I plan on sharing the incredible suc-cesses we have seen on the per-formance side of our business with those who typically may not have a conversation about CPCs.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing? Providing a space for women to connect, learn and find mentors is crucial to attracting women to the space. I was introduced to Jumptap through networking and found two really wonderful female mentors who helped me get my foot in the door. Without their support, guid-

ance, and willingness to teach, I would not be where I am now.

I am the co-chair of the commu-nications and outreach committee for Women in Wireless, a nonprofit which is connecting, creating edu-cational opportunities, and men-torships for women in the industry. We are more than 3,000 members strong today and hope to double that number next year. I am con-stantly sharing Women in Wireless with my clients, colleagues and at industry events. Some of my favorite client calls is when I am asked about Women in Wireless. Building a rela-tionship with clients beyond vendor/buyer and sharing in the Women in Wireless effort is really rewarding.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?Being nominated to the Mobile Women to Watch list. I have only been in mobile for about a year and a half and I am proud of the work I have done, the relationships I have built and being a part of Jumptap.


Charlotte ForsVice president of sales AmericasmBloxSunnyvale, CA

“There is nothing stopping women in our industry. Any limitation lies within ourselves”What do you most like about your job?I am one of the lucky people who re-ally enjoy going to work every day. I like our industry, my teams and col-leagues and I love being in sales.

I thrive in the ever-changing nature of the industry where our evolving technology and entrepreneurial spir-it dictates the agenda.

Being in sales means that I am fortu-nate enough to work with a number of successful big brands and corpo-rations on their mobile offerings.

It has been nine great years and I have seen the industry grow into a mobile commerce space where today almost every corporation has started thinking about their mobile strategy and how to engage with their cus-tomers through mobile.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?My biggest challenge is the ongoing balancing act between my family, my teams at work and hard numbers.

My approach to succeed is to be honest with myself about the priori-

tizations and choices I make, be it a school event or a customer meeting.

In every situation I try to be present in the here and now and deal with any issue in its appropriate context.

What is your work priority for 2012?My work priority for 2012 is to con-tinue to attract and keep the best resources in the industry and to develop my teams for professional growth, increased sales and even deeper industry expertise in order to serve our customers.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?There is nothing stopping women in our industry. Any limitation lies within ourselves.

My work within Women in Wireless aims to help women understand and harvest their professional potential.

When more women recognize the possibilities that lie before them and dare to take the challenge with proper support from their families and employers, we will all benefit from a more equal work place which

I think will attract even more women to our industry.

I have come to realize when working with Women in Wireless that there is a big need for an industry organiza-tion like this not only within the U.S. but also in other countries.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?I am proud to be an executive for a market leading company in our in-dustry and to have grown my prac-tice from a one person team to the organization we are today.

I am grateful to my colleagues, part-ners and customers for the oppor-tunities that I have been given and I am looking forward to new chal-lenges and more rewarding experi-ences in my professional life and the mobile industry.

I am humble and grateful to be awarded the Mobile Women to Watch 2012 and I hope to serve as a role model for others.


Gay GabrilskaVice president of mobile solutionsHipcricketKirkland, WA

“Mentoring within your own organization as well as within your industry will play an important role”What do you most like about your job?I love the fact that I have the oppor-tunity to work with our clients from launch to success. We have relation-ships with a wide variety of clients so successes are defined differently for a broadcaster versus a brand, but the main goal should always be to build remarketable databases that create loyalty and increased engage-ment and sales. Strategizing with our partners to help them acquire, engage and retain their fans is very rewarding. Mobile is ever-changing so it is important to maintain close ties with partners to ensure that they are continuing to evolve with the industry. Being able to work with some of the smartest people within a variety of industries is very satisfying as well. I also appreciate that I work for a company that fosters growth for women – my colleague Karen Buelterman was named a “Woman to Watch” last year.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?One of the biggest challenges is edu-cating potential clients on the many aspects of mobile. Being in the in-dustry, we have considerable years of

knowledge, but one of the smartest things that we can do is recognize that not everyone is as familiar with mobile as we are. Find the people who get it, and help them educate within their organizations. Having so many proven case studies is a huge benefit when overcoming this chal-lenge. People like to see how it has been done before successfully so they can succeed at a faster rate.

What is your work priority for 2012?Priority No. 1 is new client acquisi-tion and retention. As a company, we are continuing to adapt to meet the growing needs of new and current customers. Our clients have varying budgets allotted for mobile, so it is essential that I understand their key objectives in order to do the most with their budgets.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?More women will be attracted to mobile marketing through educa-tion, mentoring and networking. School programs such as STEM that focus on science, technology, en-gineering and math help create an environment in which young women

are able to thrive. Mentoring within your own organization as well as within your industry will play an important role. As more groups are created on LinkedIn and Facebook, the member numbers will grow and should lead to some very nice men-toring opportunities. These groups are also a great source for network-ing. I have been fortunate to work in an environment where gender does not come into play. People prove themselves and are given more op-portunities. More women in key roles will certainly help, but it will also take more men who are willing to choose the right person for a posi-tion regardless of gender.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?I am extremely proud of my success in maintaining long-term relation-ships with our clients. We have many clients who have been our partners since 2004 and more than 50 per-cent have been with us for at least three years. These types of long-term relationships take a concerted group effort. Every single person within our organization takes pride in this be-cause we accomplish it together.


Alison GensheimerDirector of customer developmentVelti Inc.San Francisco

“I want to develop outreach programs for women of all ages that educate them on mobile”What do you most like about your job?I like the mobile industry, the way that it continuously disrupts itself creating new opportunities.

From new technologies to new uses of existing technologies, there are truly no limits to what we can do.

The best thing is that I am always learning and I have the opportunity to lead a team that thrives on new challenges to test and learn.

When you work with clients that want to test the boundaries, it makes the whole thing come together.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?The biggest challenge is seeing the future. Staying just ahead of the technology and consumer trends enough to remain relevant.

Technology is evolving so quickly, it is complex and tracked constantly be-cause the next greatest thing may be Facebook or it may be the next big-gest flop. Because of this you can-

not be afraid to try, we learn equally from our failures as our successes.

What is your work priority for 2012?I am focused on three areas.

First, evaluating the next evolution in mobile and how can we be pre-pared to leverage it for the greatest benefit of our clients.

Second, developing and implement-ing mobile strategies and optimiza-tion tactics that leverage existing mobile capabilities.

Last, it all comes down to reporting and analytics. Data is king and as such the ability to seamlessly track how a user continues one single brand experience across multiple channels only then we can get a true sense of the organic user experience and discover new ways to give the consumers what they want how they want it.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?Two things. First, women need to get

out there and be heard. There are a lot of smart and innovative women in mobile and when you get even a few in the same room it is amazing the creativity that starts flying.

I have had the good fortune of work-ing in global mobile companies like Velti and have long been fascinated by the high-caliber of talented wom-en executives in the industry.

I want to develop outreach programs for women of all ages that educate them on mobile and encourage the best and brightest to join the indus-try, from marketers to engineers.

Your proudest achievement in mobile? My proudest achievement is an on-going one and reflects the time and effort several good people took to educate me when I entered mobile; taking the time to encourage and advise those that want to break into our industry and lend my experience to those that have a desire to learn more and grow in the industry.


Kayla GreenClient services account directoriconmobileBerlin

“I believe there is a huge potential for mobile commerce within retail, and 2012 is going to be a big year”What do you most like about your job?I love advertising, and in my job I have the opportunity apply the mo-bile lens to traditional advertising efforts. What I enjoy most is work-ing alongside some of the industry’s most talented creatives and strate-gists, geeking out on the latest mo-bile innovations – and then seeing the fruition of our efforts integrated into the all-up campaigns. What is the biggest challenge in your job?While there is tremendous excite-ment and interest in mobile, it still garners the least amount marketing and advertising campaign budget al-locations. One of the biggest chal-lenges in my job is getting agency and client teams to understand that mobile, while the screens are smaller, does not translate into less expen-sive production budgets. Mobile is still considered an after-thought in many marketing initia-tives, which makes it challenging for mobile to be activated in a meaning-

ful way within an integrated effort. Also challenging is the ever-chang-ing technology and space we play in. Every quarter we see numbers that surpass the previous in terms of smartphone adoption, network speeds, app downloads, time spent on sites, QR code scans, and now mobile commerce. Sometimes the biggest challenge of my job is just keeping up with the technology and being able to stay ahead with ideas and innovation. What is your work priority for 2012?We are doing a lot of work with ISIS, one of the leaders in the mobile commerce field. A big priority for us will be to find areas of opportunity and integration between ISIS and our agency partners and clients.

I believe there is a huge potential for mobile commerce within retail environments, and 2012 is going to be a big year to establish platforms and activate programs for our clients within the category.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?The mobile marketing playing field is not level – it has not even been established. We are still in the early stages of growth in this industry and I think this will make mobile market-ing attractive to women looking to start their careers in this business. Your proudest achievement in mobile?I am proud of my team and the work we have done this year especially for our newer clients. Every campaign we launch or product we develop is a moment of pride for me, and it sig-nifies that we were able to achieve something we never thought pos-sible only a short while ago.


Katie Grisko Senior business systems analyst, ecommercePETCO Animal SuppliesSan Diego, CA

“Women are a natural fit for this space – creative thinkers, good with both people and technology”What do you most like about your job?Every day is something new.

I work with great people in a fast-moving space, and that provides endless opportunities to grow and learn new things.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?Prioritization. My plate is always far too full, and I want to push the en-velope every where I can, so I have to manage my time and resources pretty ruthlessly.

What is your work priority for 2012?Furthering Petco’s omnichannel ini-tiatives. We have long been a leading

multichannel retailer, it is time for us to take the lead as an omnichannel retailer and give our customers and their pets the comprehensive experi-ence they deserve.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing? Women are a natural fit for this space – creative thinkers, good with both people and technology. Women need to realize the potential that ex-ists for them and their companies if they step up and grab hold of strate-gic opportunities.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?When we finally got approval to build a mobile site, no one was sure we would get it done before holiday – in

a matter of a couple months. We did. I was very proud of the team. Now I am proud to say we are continuing to innovate in the space and think in a customer-first way about how we can better serve our customers, their pets, and our stores by utilizing mobile technology.


Ghazal HaqueSenior manager, mobile innovationAmerican ExpressNew York

“I do see a lot more women involved in the mobile business compared to few years ago”

What do you most like about your job?I work with the best and the brightest teams.

Not only I am recognized as a sub-ject-matter expert, but I am also challenged to come up with innova-tive solutions to support strategies.

I enjoy working with my peers and clients by brainstorming ideas, ana-lyzing growing trends and figuring out how we can improve perfor-mance and maintain effectiveness of our users to continue to interact with the campaigns.

It is very exciting to see your ideas blossom into successful campaigns.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?The biggest challenge is to keep up with the trends of mobile as the space is continuously evolving.

I always advise to think long term about how a campaign will shift di-rections when new trends emerge.

A smart approach is to know your target audience by defining a road-map, and making sure you offer value and utility throughout the life-cycle of a campaign.

What is your work priority for 2012?My priority for 2012 is to keep an eye on new, emerging trends in mobile and analyze how they impact ongo-ing and future campaigns.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?Being an early-adopter gives you ad-vantage in terms of opportunities. At the same time, I do see a lot more women involved in the mobile busi-ness compared to few years ago. This goes to show that there is definitely a strong interest for the industry.

I also see a growing trend at univer-sities teaching mobile and emerging media courses.

Hopefully through educational awareness, we will see more women in the mobile marketing field.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?I have been in the mobile space for five years. It has been a rewarding journey for me. All the accomplish-ments I have achieved have helped me become a successful individual in the mobile business.


Beth JacobsGeneral manager of mobileThe Washington PostWashington

“Someday soon I hope to see CMO stand for Chief Mobile Officer”What do you most like about your job?I thrive on the opportunity to build new businesses, particularly given the dynamics of the mobile industry in which change is a constant.

When I arrived at The Washington Post, I was given a blank canvas to develop a new mobile strategic di-rection. I was given the opportunity to create a new, finely-honed fo-cus on how our brand and content should be rendered and experienced across all mobile platforms.

We focus on embracing the trends in mobile as the user experience evolves from content consumption to per-sonalization and customization.

What is the biggest challenge in your job? We need to invest wisely in the plat-forms and products that reach and extend our audience and enable us to realize tangible, impactful results for our business.

However, there are many challenges from lack of standard ad tools and standardized metrics to fragmented platforms that force difficult deci-

sions and trade-offs all while keep-ing the user experience top of mind.

What is your work priority for 2012?My priority is to continue our focus and investment on our core prod-ucts, which means iterating our ex-isting products and looking ahead to innovate new ones that reflect The Post’s core competencies and what our users want.

We are focused on integrating and leveraging technologies like HTML5 to develop across fragmented plat-forms more easily and integrating geo-targeting capabilities with our content to allow users a more per-sonalized mobile experience, as well as opportunities for advertisers to deliver more relevant messages.

I am also excited about new prod-ucts we are developing for 2012 that take us beyond a one-dimensional news experience.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?Having been in the mobile space for the past 10 years, I have worked with talented women who are leaders

and start-up entrepreneurs and have lobbied for the mobile cause from its relative infancy through today, where mobile is still evolving.

Mobile is not just an experiment anymore, and companies and agen-cies need to keep creating and ex-panding roles to allow for more op-portunities in the mobile space. As opportunities and awareness grow, more women will evolve their expe-rience into mobile-focused jobs.

Someday soon I hope to see CMO stand for Chief Mobile Officer.

Your proudest achievement in mo-bile?I am incredibly proud of the mile-stones that our team at The Post has been able to accomplish as we have re-set our mobile business and cre-ate, unique multi-dimensional mo-bile experiences that set us apart from other publishers. This has been a year of enormous growth for us – one in which we have been focused on getting the basics right and set-ting our foundation for growth in the long-term.


“You really need to listen to your gut to succeed in digital, and women tend to have strong intuitions”What do you most like about your job?Disruptive change often appears to be a serendipitous accident. But usually, there is a strong gut instinct behind each major disruptive shift.

I have been very fortunate to have had a couple moments in my career where I have worked with a brilliant team of people who were transform-ing the digital world.

I am very excited to find myself in that place once again. Web 1.0 was about “what.” Web 2.0 was about “who.” Web 3.0 is all about “where.”

Nokia is placing large bets that loca-tion will be the disruptive factor that will change the way people interact with the physical world, how they get from here to there, discover new places, and make purchases.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?Explaining to my parents what I do for a living.

What is your work priority for 2012?2012 will be a pivotal year for Nokia. A perfect storm is brewing in mobile, and it combines the relevance of contextual services with predictive, machine-based learning systems. The end result will be addictive and intelligent mobile applications that people will rely upon every day to navigate their busy lives, whether they are getting from here to there, shopping, commuting, or going on an adventure.

We are only just beginning to lay the groundwork for merchants and brands to meet consumers where they are in such a way that the lines between advertising and useful ser-vice begin to blur.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?It begins with the awareness that we cannot approach this space like a mature business. Most tradition-al tactics are not effective when it comes to new media.

You really need to listen to your gut to succeed in digital, and women tend to have strong intuitions. When I am looking for talent, I value bold, bootstrapping, intuitive thinkers over top-tier MBAs.

What is your proudest achieve-ment in mobile?I hope my proudest achievement is yet to come. To date, I have been part of launching four mobile adver-tising businesses — Enpocket, Sprint, NAVTEQ and Nokia. I am very excit-ed by the new leadership, the bold strategy, and the “challenger” mind-set at Nokia.

By the end of 2012, I would love to say that I was part of the largest brand turn-around in history.

Diana LaGattutaMarketing director, location and commerceNokiaLondon


Gefen LamdanVice president of productCeltra Inc.New York

“Many women are not aware of the wide spectrum of skills needed for this robust industry” What do you most like about your job?For me, the people I work with is my No. 1 priority.

At Celtra, I get to work with a fan-tastic mix of them – an extraordinary team of people who come from dif-ferent cultures and backgrounds.

We have a lot of fun creating new and innovative products together.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?Trying to maintain the highest qual-ity of products in this ever-changing ocean of possibilities is not easy.

I get to challenge my extensive years of digital experience every day to continuously improve our offering.

What is your work priority for 2012?To help my company reach the next level of maturity. It will be important to apply work flows and add struc-ture to support the critical mass to come, but it is also important to never trade off creativity.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?In my view, the entire digital indus-try is led by men, and mobile is no different. I think it will take aware-

ness to attract more women to the field. Many women are not aware of the wide spectrum of skills needed for this robust industry. They tend to lump it all under “technology” and avoid exploring it.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?I think it is that moment when I get to feel the tangible effect I have on the progress of things. I enjoy intro-ducing cutting-edge new products, ad formats and creative solutions.


Beth LawrenceExecutive vice president of ad sales and media solutionsThe Weather ChannelAtlanta

“It’s about convincing them that the unknown can be a positive – that you don’t have to have all the answers”What do you most like about your job?What I like most about my job is the creativity and satisfaction of creat-ing media solutions that work for our clients. We start our conversations by asking what challenges they are fac-ing, and when we help solve them, that is really gratifying and exciting.

And of course working with some of the best minds in the business, whether it is on my own team or on the client side – I love that I learn something new every day from them.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?I think the biggest challenge in my job is simply building awareness for how dominant The Weather Channel is on TV, online, mobile and tablet.

What is your work priority for 2012?My team’s priority for 2012 is to convince more Fortune 500 compa-nies that a cross-platform campaign on The Weather Channel is a crucial buy for their brand.

And a priority I always have is to at-tract the best and brightest talent in the industry. We are in a period of huge growth and there is always room for more smart, creative people on our team.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?Women tend to be nurturers and ed-ucators, and mobile is a new animal to many marketers – so women are ideally suited to help educate them on all the exciting opportunities it affords their brand, and to nurture that relationship along the way.

It can be such creative work and there is almost no wrong answer right now since it is still early days, so I would think it would be highly appealing to many people – especially those who have a pioneering spirit. Perhaps it is about convincing them that the un-known can be a positive – that you do not have to have all the answers, you just have to be willing to try new things. And women, like men, seek career advancement. Mobile is go-ing to be a huge area for growth, so

if you want to advance, mobile is a great place to be.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?There are a few achievements in mo-bile this year that I am proud of. One was my team getting Citi on board for the cross-platform launch of The Weather Channel Social.

It was not an easy sell – it was a new product and certainly a risk on Citi’s part for trusting us that this would work well for them even though it was not tried and true. But they were forward-thinking and realized that we all have to experiment in this new mobile landscape in order to see what works. If you are fearful or simply complacent, you are going to get left behind. The winners are the ones who take calculated risks and jump on opportunities before their competitors do.

Another was the vote of confidence from Bank of America in our tablet product, which ties so nicely to their mobile strategy.


Jennifer McCoyOwnerBallyhoo Mobile MarketingFernandina Beach, Florida

“Mobile is so young and vibrant, it is an industry that can embrace change quickly”What do you most like about your job?I really enjoy working with clients that are new to mobile.

A lot of businesses I work with are married to the traditional realm and are very scared of jumping into a new media – especially one as fast-moving as mobile.

Providing them the insight and sup-port, and delivering a successful campaign, makes them mobile ad-vertisers for the life of their brand.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?Education. In selling anything, you need to make sure your client under-stands why they need that product.

For mobile, a lot of times, businesses know they need to be in the mobile space but do not know how to get started- and are too scared to ask.

It can be a daunting task for a busi-ness owner or marketing director to learn a new media. I try to give semi-nars quarterly, and I work with col-lege campuses to create a platform for learning the mobile industry.

What is your work priority for 2012?Ballyhoo Mobile Marketing Inc. launched in the downturn of 2008, and we survived where many small shops failed because we constantly were selling and networking.

This past year was very rough for us, and I want to get back to selling and promoting ourselves the way we did in the beginning – this time with new products and exciting opportunities.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?I think that the marketing industry as a whole is more open to women executives than other industries.

As we see more women named CEO’s across the Fortune 500 it will con-tinue to open doors.

Luckily, mobile is so young and vi-brant, it is an industry that can em-brace change quickly.

Women fit naturally into that envi-ronment – so I hope that we con-tinue to create events and oppor-tunities to educate everyone of the opportunities available.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?It may seem very small, but hearing the first text campaign on the local radio station I grew up with.

To imagine that my company would be a mobile provider for the station I used to rock out to in high school – it always makes me smile.

The station is a heritage CHR station in Florida and was the station for the local haps.

I listened to the morning show every day on the way to school – and now I am in the building weekly working alongside them. It is small in com-parison to larger national campaigns, but it will always be special to me.


Julie NovakSenior vice president of mobile solutionsVibes MediaChicago

“We need to do a better job recruiting talented women from other industries”What do you most like about your job?When I was running Razorfish Chi-cago, I saw my Fortune 500 clients starting to invest in the mobile channel. After more than 18 years in digital marketing, I felt the year of mobile was finally here. When I received a call from Vibes, a mobile marketing company in my own back-yard, I knew that the stars aligned.

I really enjoy working with our teams to map out mobile roadmaps for our clients. It is fun to be a pioneer again. We are hosting mobile mar-keting lunch and learns for many of our clients – it is fun to see the light bulbs go on.

I also love that every day is different at Vibes.

One day I am working with a fortune 100 insurance company on an inno-vative mobile alerts program and the next, I am helping a major retailer launch a LBS campaign.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?My biggest challenge is helping our clients understand that launching an

iPhone app is not a mobile strategy.

We help them think about how mo-bile can complement and improve their brand’s overall marketing strat-egy by weaving smart mobile touch points throughout their customer journey both online and off.

Once we help them see that mobile is not a stand along channel, exciting opportunities rise to the surface.

What is your work priority for 2012?I would like to double the size of our mobile solutions group, our innova-tion team that helps clients develop cutting edge mobile programs.

We also will focus our on building out our robust mobile marketing platform, integrating social, email, mobile coupons and push.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?When I went to my first CTIA confer-ence in San Francisco, I was amazed that there were very few women in the industry.

I am excited to see that some new

networking groups for women are springing up across the country. The mission of Women in Wireless is to empower and develop female lead-ers in mobile and digital media. They seem to be doing some great things.

We need to do a better job recruit-ing talented women from other in-dustries. There is a talent shortage in mobile so we will need to reach beyond the digital space to tap suc-cessful women professionals in ad-vertising, media and technology.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?I am really proud that I helped launch our Mobile Relationship Manage-ment approach at Vibes. It is a ho-listic view of mobile that helps our clients think strategically about how to activate and integrate mobile into their customer lifecycle.

Our technology powers these rela-tionships and makes it easy for our clients to measure the results.

I am also proud that I have recruited top talent from the traditional digi-tal agency world who want to live and breathe mobile every day.


Elena PerezDirector of marketing MedialetsNew York

“This mobile space moves quickly so staying one step ahead is challenging, but it is also makes it interesting”

What do you most like about your job?I currently head marketing for Me-dialets, but I also worked in online ad tech back when media companies were just beginning to embrace digi-tal advertising.

And while I have tremendous respect for what was achieved, when you see something like a Web page with a cacophony of ad messages that you ultimately tune out it is clear that a couple of things went off track.

What I enjoy about working in mo-bile advertising is the ability to draw from the experience of online, but at the same time hit reset on those things that create tension where there should be connections between consumers, brands and publishers. What is the biggest challenge in your job?This mobile space moves quickly so staying one step ahead in order to provide the best services, education and value for our clients is challeng-ing, but it is also what makes it in-teresting. I would rather wish for a few extra hours in a day and have

the opportunity to work in such a dynamic space.

What is your work priority for 2012?At Medialets, we are defining pro-cesses and products that help brands, agencies and publishers fully realize mobile rich media’s value. In 2012, I will continue to draw awareness of Medialets’ platform and capabili-ties, and that also means address-ing some misconceptions about mo-bile advertising that are in the wild: “That ad networks offer the only way to scale mobile,” “That mobile is hard to measure,” “That it is always really complex.” These are the assumptions that keep brands and agencies from embracing what is a powerful, prov-en way to connect with consumers.

In 2012, I look forward to sharing more of the things we are doing at Medialets that make mobile adver-tising easer and more accessible to the industry.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?I get to collaborate with amazing women, particularly on the Medialets

team but also across clients, partners and various organizations.

What they all have in common is the desire to work in a really dynamic environment, creativity and tenacity in finding first-to-market solutions for first-to-market challenges and great confidence. It is the example set by these women that will draw more women to mobile. Your proudest achievement in mobile?I have had the opportunity to work with exceptionally creative and groundbreaking products in a space that moves faster than anything ever seen before. But the best part is that I get to be surrounded by people who love to innovate, people who see possibilities where others see ob-stacles and then execute on those possibilities.

That kind of passion and energy is contagious, and I am lucky to be im-mersed in it every day.


Elyse PhillipsDirector of marketing AppceleratorMountain View, CA

“Savvy women are taking advantage of this pro-innovation environment, which will result in more women in mobile” What do you most like about your job?The best thing about my job is help-ing some of the world’s best brands create and execute a mobile strategy.

We are seeing mobile follow the same trajectory that we saw with the Web only it is moving faster since we all learned a lot from our dot-com days.

Right now companies are putting their toe in the water with mobile by creating relatively simple apps. This is similar to the first websites which were basically brochureware – sim-ple Web sites that put the company’s marketing collateral on the Web.

Once companies become success-ful with their first app, the look at how to engage their customers with mobile – remember the first time you checked your bank balance on a website, or got directions from Map-quest? That’s the second stage of mobile, too.

The third stage of mobile maturity comes when companies move into transacting in mobile.

We are not there yet, but we will be soon and that is when companies can use mobile to transform their relationships with their customers even more than they were able to with the Web.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?Matching the technical needs of IT and development teams with the business needs of brand managers is our biggest challenge. Appcelerator software makes mobile development fast and scalable, which benefits both the technical buyer as well as the business buyer. Our challenge is helping both understand that having a cohesive mobile strategy across all aspects of their company is the way to really transform their relation-ships with their customers. What is your work priority for 2012?Next year is about helping our Glob-al 1,000 customers accelerate their mobile strategy. If they are in the early brochureware stage with their mobile apps, we want to get them to engage their customers on a deeper

level using location-based features, social hooks and the like. Once they are successfully engaging their cus-tomers, we help them use mobile to increase customer loyalty.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?I am in Silicon Valley, and not a week goes by that I do not get an email about a entrepreneurial meetup, new tech incubator, or some other sort of mentorship opportunity for would-be entrepreneurs. And since most startups are in the mobile or social space, this wealth of resources pro-vides tons of opportunity for women and men alike who want to get into mobile. Savvy, motivated women are taking advantage of this pro-innova-tion environment, which will result in more women in all aspects of mo-bile and tech. Your proudest achievement in mobile?We are still in the early days of mo-bile - my proudest achievement is yet to come.


Tiina PiirsooDirector of mobile productsNBC UniversalNew York

“We have the opportunity to make changes immediate-ly, which was not always available in media in the past”What do you most like about your job?Working with a portfolio of differ-ent departments, brands and emerg-ing technologies offers me access to best-in-class mobile products every day in my job.

The mobile platform is still evolving. I like how the dynamic nature of the platform offers new experiences.

As a product lead, I am excited to help mold a direction in a technology and advocate for a growing platform. I love to teach people about the pos-sibilities of mobile and help to strat-egize a future in the space.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?The biggest challenge is keeping up with the technologies and staying ahead of the changing behaviors of consumers in the marketplace.

With a diverse portfolio of brands to support, I have to make sure that we focus on the most valuable items and not select products that might have a shorter product life cycle.

What is your work priority for 2012?2012 is a year of execution. The mobile product team is now ready to build on business to business mobile applications for our clients, streamline existing processes, and continue to grow our distribution mobile channels to support the NBC Universal portfolio.

My personal goal in 2012 is to main-tain a relationship with the different brands I support and help advocate for new solutions in the mobile space throughout the company.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?I believe the movement has already begun. As I look at mobile product development teams at NBC Univer-sal the diversity of women within the organization is growing. I be-lieve the excitement of impacting the direction of a company’s strat-egy has drawn more women to this emerging space.

We have the opportunity to make changes immediately, which was not

always available in the past. In the future I hope that this question will become less relevant as women con-tinue to enter the mobile technology space and I look forward to seeing the evolution.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?There are so many great achieve-ments that come to mind from launching new products, advocating for new consumer marketing experi-ences and building new services.

Most recently I would have to say assembling a new team of mobile experts across multiple disciplines from video, application develop-ment, technology and messaging at NBC Universal. It is a culmination of my multiple years of experience building different product lines and gathering those talents to create a single department. I think they can take over the world if I let them at it. All kidding aside, it has been a great experience seeing the excitement for the mobile space grow across the or-ganization. It is a testament to the talents of the mobile team I built.


Martine ReardonExecutive vice president of marketingMacy’sNew York

“Providing recognition, focus and learning opportunities will continue to make a difference”What do you like most about your job?One of the best things about my job is the incredible team we have as-sembled here at Macy’s that truly amazes me every day.

I have the privilege of working with an extremely talented group that produces parades and flower shows, creates award-winning marketing campaigns, keeps us at the forefront of new technology and active in the social space, helps charitable organi-zations raise millions of dollars and makes our great brand important and alive to our customers – all elements that contribute to Macy’s place as a true, national entertainment brand. What is the biggest challenge in your job?Arguably the biggest challenge our company has faced in recent years was the conversion of 400 depart-ment stores operating under sepa-rate regional mastheads into one national brand with over 800 store locations, a booming online business, and home to the most popular fash-ion and lifestyle brands in the coun-try. Through the implementation of

our MyMacy’s strategy, which cus-tomizes merchandise assortments by region, and our strong focus on the customer, we have emerged as the leading department store with an aggressive growth strategy for the future. One of my most critical challenges is continuing to leverage the power of our incredible national brand while staying locally involved, relevant and always connected to our customer.

What is your work priority for 2012?Of course as a retailer the priority is to achieve our sales and profit goals.

In our marketing capacity, our goal is to continue to make our great Macy’s brand relevant to our customer, and ensure that we are marketing to her wherever and however she wants to shop with us - through all available shopping channels while delivering a consistent, magical experience.

Our focus continues to zero in on our MyMacy’s localization initiatives, and to ensure that we stay at the forefront of technology by continu-ing to test, innovate and take risks.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?At Macy’s, I am proud to say that women have senior roles in all as-pects of our marketing effort. As a matter of fact a woman, Jennifer Kasper, heads up our growing digital and social team. Providing recogni-tion and focus and offering impact-ful learning opportunities through-out the industry at all levels will continue to make a difference.

Your proudest achievement in mobile? Our company has made a significant effort to advance innovation as we test new technology with partner companies like Google, Facebook and Shopkick who help us find exciting new ways to make mobile even more relevant and important.

I am incredibly fortunate to work for a company that supports original thinking, provides the opportunity to take risks, and embraces new ideas. We are proud of the recognition we have received from the industry, par-ticularly from Mobile Marketer, and look forward to expanding in this space for 2012.


Erin O’Neill SchultzTeam manager of mobile ads, technology and retailGoogleMountain View, CA

“If my work can give consumers back five more min-utes to spend with their families I consider that a win”What do you most like about your job? I like to think that we in the mo-bile industry are helping people live fuller, more connected and productive lives.

Everyday millions of people turn to their smartphones to connect, shop, research and, ultimately, save time.

Ultimately my job is to connect busi-nesses and brands with mobile con-sumers to have seamless experiences. If my work can give consumers back five more minutes to spend with their families I consider that a win.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?At Google our mobile team talks a lot about “Moving from Why to How.”

Meaning many conversations with marketers have moved from “Why do I need a mobile site?” to “How do I give the user the right experience across any device?”

That being said, more than 79 per-cent of our largest advertisers still do not have a mobile-optimized expe-

rience. It can be so frustrating as a user and member of the mobile in-dustry when you try to engage with a brand on your mobile device only to be told you cannot purchase on your phone. Those are missed opportunities that can leave the user with a negative perception of your brand.

What is your work priority for 2012?My focus at Google is working with the largest retail and technology cli-ents on their mobile strategies.

Tying back the mobile to store attri-bution is critical for many of them.

They want to measure how mobile usage is driving a user to purchase in store. We are also keeping a close eye on tablets. Shoppers are increas-ingly turning to tablets to research, compare prices and buy.

As more tablets shift the market in 2012 it will be incredibly inter-esting to look at how this third screen is playing into the consumer purchase path.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?Bottom line, women and men want to work on interesting projects that are growing.

Mobile today feels a lot like the search industry felt back in 2002.

We have some growing pains sure, but the excitement is palpable. We are only scratching the surface with what is possible.

When we look back in history, I be-lieve smartphones will emerge as one of the quintessential inventions that changed the way we live.

Those in the mobile industry will have a front row seat. Not a bad spot to be regardless of gender.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?In the past four years I have worked with several advertisers on many noteworthy campaigns.

I think what I am most proud of is seeing the way the mobile finally has a seat at the table.


Veronika SonsevFounder/CEOinSparqNew York

“To get more women to mobile marketing, we need to showcase aspirational role models”What do you most like about your job?Being the founder of inSparq, I get to build the company I always envi-sioned: from product to culture.

In doing so, I have learned so much about everything from customer de-velopment to strategy to creative bootstrapping.

I have learned more in one year of doing a startup than anything else I have ever done.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?Like many startups, our biggest chal-lenge is figuring out how to win with

less resources than more established players in our space.What is your work priority for 2012?Launching inSparq with the first few hundred customers and generating the first $1 million in revenue.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?To get more women to mobile mar-keting, we need to showcase aspi-rational role models. That way more junior women entering the industry can see a path for success across various industry roles. This publica-tion is a great way to do that. We also need to get more women speak-ing at conferences.

The bigger question is how do you get women in leadership roles. Get-ting more women leaders requires three key pillars: access (getting the right network), leadership skill and visibility (speaking/press opportuni-ties). The Women in Wireless pro-grams to support all three pillars.

Your proudest achievement in mo-bile?When I worked at Jumptap, I sold the first $1 million in mobile advertising ever sold in Spain – without speaking a word of Spanish.


Alex WarnerDirector of global marketing solutionsAir2WebAtlanta

“Having the opportunity to work with organizations such as the CTIA and MMA adds another dimension to the job”What do you most like about your job?In the time I have spent in the mo-bile space across both Europe and North America, I have worked in both sales and marketing roles for or with the carriers or device man-ufacturers, but this role is my first operations role.

This is a global position, so in ad-dition to managing our connectiv-ity relationships here in the United States, I am always looking for new opportunities to expand our coverage so we can help our customers extend their marketing programs’ reach to their international customers.

Having the opportunity to work with organizations such as the CTIA and MMA and shape the future of mobile adds another dimension to the job.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?Balancing the interests of our cus-tomers with those of the carriers and Industry organizations.

For example, use of long codes here in the U.S. has been gathering mo-mentum over the last 12 months and

we are seeing more enquiries from customers around using a long code for their SMS programs.

It is difficult to explain to customers why we do not support long codes when they see other companies out there using them for their marketing programs, but the MMA has worked hard to provide solid mobile mar-keting best practices and it is these practices that help protect our in-dustry from spam and make mobile marketing such a valuable marketing communications tool.

What is your work priority for 2012?Working with our client services and sales teams to expand our custom-ers’ mobile marketing programs into Latin America.

Now that the CTIA has launched the common short code registry in LA-TAM, marketing in LATAM has just gotten a whole lot easier.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?When I think about all the people I liaise with, it is probably more fe-male dominated than male.

I do not think gender has a place in job suitability andselection. If you have the interest and the requisite skill set that is what is important.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?During my six years with Nokia, I worked with BrandGames to de-sign an online interactive game that could cut through the communica-tions-clutter on new products, and train reps in a fun, engaging way on new Nokia devices.

3gdj was such an addictive game that during the life of the program, sales reps played over 18,500 times with word of mouth feedback view-ing Nokia as cool and resulting in product recommendations.

The mobile game-based sales train-ing program won a Davey Award. The Davey is awarded to firms with produce outstanding solutions to messaging challenges.


Thi Linh WernauVice president of business development and client servicesskyrockitSan Francisco

“What’s needed is sound strategy and ideas for what to do and how to get there”What do you most like about your job?I enjoy being part of a company and team that’s creative and entrepre-neurial. I also love the fact that I am in an industry that is changing and shaping the way we live. To me, it is so much more than marketing. It is about the way we live, interact and communicate as human beings. I feel I am part of a revolution and trans-formation to a connected world.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?Though mobile has made huge strides since I have been in the industry, I still believe a tremendous amount of untapped potential remains. I think that today, it requires less educa-tion to convince clients they need to go mobile. What is needed is sound strategy and ideas for what to do and how to get there.

One of the biggest challenges is fil-tering through the breadth of what a client can pursue in their mobile strategy and organizing it by priori-ties, which is often dictated by bud-get or resource constraints.

What is your work priority for 2012?To continue to payoff our “Madison, Valley and Vine” philosophy by lead-ing with strategy and ideas.

We differentiate by intersecting mar-keting, technology and entertain-ment to create mobile experiences consumers want to engage with. This is achieved through the creation of products, platforms or campaign experiences that take into account a client’s target audience, challenges and objectives. My goal is to con-tinue to grow our activity with brand and agency partners, helping them not only with a vision and roadmap for success but with a plan to exe-cute it, as well. What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?The creation of more mobile-spe-cific job opportunities and leader-ship roles at brands and agencies will help attract more women to the industry. Though I am never a proponent of mobile sitting in a silo, the reality is that it is still a medium that requires specialized skills. Many

brands and agencies who tout exper-tise in the medium, in reality, have only a couple resources dedicated to the channel.

Ultimately, I think mobile contin-ues to earn its seat at the planning table, and we will see more people, both women and men, flock to mo-bile marketing when mobile is a core priority in integrated planning and strategy versus an add-on.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?I am proud of being able to help cli-ents think differently about mobile or inspiring passion around a mobile idea that can really help to build a client’s brand. But, I am still most proud of my work with the “Text-a-Tip” program for the Boston Police Department because I think it is a testament to the power of mobile to engage a community, inspire per-sonal action and do good. It is a key asset in providing police with the in-formation needed to solve crimes.


Viki ZabalaDirector of marketingFiksuBoston

“Revolutionary, not just evolutionary – this is the oppor-tunity to be truly disruptive”What do you like most about your job?Mobile is in a constant flux with no written directions, which can be both exciting and challenging. At Fiksu, we have the determination and ability to cut through the grey lines in order to create transparency in an undefined market. Stepping in as educators and advocates to help marketers and app developers make smarter decisions tied to their bot-tom line and revenue stream is what motivates and inspires me.

What is your biggest challenge in your job?I am exposed to many sides of the mobile space from customers and partners to publishers, networks, developers and agencies – which provides me with an appreciation for the complexities and challenges ahead. While the dynamic nature of mobile may be its biggest challenge, it is also its greatest opportunity propelling unprecedented innovation in the industry, and moving us for-ward so quickly.

Finding mobile hubs – talent or edu-cation – is extremely difficult as well. The media landscape is extremely di-verse, competitive and fragmented,

without one proclaimed source of expertise leading the field.

What is your work priority for 2012?Revolutionary, not just evolutionary - this is the opportunity to be truly disruptive. Leading with the initia-tive to create more educational bites will help to connect mobile market-ers with answers on effective mobile app marketing strategies and tactics.

2012 will be the year we help to de-fine the mobile app ecosystem from user acquisition, to engagement and transaction, and beyond into loyalty. My goal is to help more market-ers make smart, educated decisions based on transparency, data, bench-marks, trends and best practices.

Mobile is a very different space then the Web. As advocates and educators of mobile app advertising, we have seen many false assumptions and blunders in going to market with an app. There are no cookies on mobile to track users or demographic tar-geting that can pinpoint users like the Web.

The mobile app economy has yet to be defined and will require more

effort from all - media, vendors, brands, agencies and developers - to help paint our new app economy in a unified way so that others can create an effective go-to-market strategy before launching their mobile app.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?So what is the big secret? Exposure and education about the space is essential. It starts with knowledge sharing and that is a responsibil-ity of not only our education sector, but also the people currently here – mentors, investors, execs, leaders and managers.

Your proudest achievement inmobile?Fiksu is on the fast track to suc-cess. In less than seven months the company has expanded internation-ally and doubled both office space and employee size. We are defin-ing the undefined, we have tracked the immeasurable and have openly shared our findings with the mobile industry.

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CONTENTS...CONTENTS PAGE 2 Mobile Marketer MOBILE WOMEN TO WATCH 2012 PAGE 3. Welcome Giselle Tsirulnik 4. Lisa Abramson Rhythm NewMedia 5. Tricia Cervenan Quicken Loans 6. Marjorie