• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, September 13, 2011

Mobile ad network Millennial Media has hired former Qualcomm executive Isaac Babbs as senior vice president of business development. In his new role, he will anchor the company's growing presence in the Bay Area, where it plans to add 15 to 20 software engineers to its San Francisco office in the coming months.

Most recently, Babbs was vice president and general manager, Qualcomm Services Labs, Inc. and vice president for business development at the San Diego-based wireless technology giant. As GM of the labs division, he led internal development efforts to commercialize and launch new mobile services.

Prior to joining Qualcomm, Babbs was president of Sorrent, a mobile entertainment company that merged with U.K.-based mobile game studio Macrospace in 2005 to form Glu Mobile. Previously, he was an executive at Macromedia, where he co-founded shockwave.com, and led the audio-video division, later sold to Apple.

As a Millennial board member since 2006, Babbs also brings a longstanding relationship with the company to the new job.

As one of the largest independent mobile ad networks, the company has frequently been rumored as an acquisition target for a larger Internet or wireless firm looking to accelerate its mobile advertising business. In May, Bloomberg reported that Millennial was talking to investment banks about a potential IPO that could value the company at $700 million to $1 billion.

Lately, however, volatility stemming from the European debt crisis and fears of a U.S. double-dip recession has left the stock market less hospitable to new stock issues. Millennial has received $64.8 million in venture funding to date from investors including Bessemer Venture Partners and Columbia Capital.