• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, January 12, 2009

Mike Wehrs, who most recently led mobile business strategy for Nuance Communication, has been named as the new president and CEO of the Mobile Marketing Association.

Wehrs, who succeeds Laura Marriott in the post, assumes leadership of the MMA at an especially challenging time as the recession is expected to squeeze mobile ad budgets this year and corporate spending overall.

Among the immediate priorities Wehrs identified in an interview last week were overseeing the imminent relocation of the trade group from Denver to New York City, stabilizing its membership and boosting the MMA's training and education programs.

"I've been spending a significant amount of time thinking about what services we need to offer our members," said Wehrs, who held the title of vice president of industry affairs and evangelism at Burlington, Mass.-based Nuance. The company is best known for its Dragon voice-recognition technology.

Wehrs' background also includes leading product management and marketing at mobile technology company Tegic Communications, later acquired by Nuance. Before that, he worked at Microsoft, focusing on business development related to Windows products and directing market research and product planning in the software giant's mobile division.

Wehrs has also served on the boards or committees of various other industry organizations including CTIA, the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) and the dotMobi Advisory Group.

After a five-month search that drew hundreds of applicants, Wehrs stood "head and shoulders" above other candidates, according to Russell Buckley, the MMA's global chairman, and vice president of global alliances at mobile ad network AdMob. "He's got extensive experience in mobile and has had direct involvement in other industry groups, which was a real prerequisite for the job," said Buckley.

An initial test of Wehrs' management skills will be guiding the smooth transition of the MMA's headquarters to New York next month. The move is aimed at putting the trade group at the heart of the media and advertising world.

"The marketing business, and many large advertising companies tend to be based in New York," said Wehrs. "This gives us a greater level of interaction with Madison Avenue and an easier gateway for our members, considering the global presence we have."

With the stalled economy forcing all companies to eye costs closely, maintaining the MMA's membership is another immediate objective. "We're trying to be very proactive because trade association participation is something that will be looked at very carefully by budget owners," said Wehrs.

Under Marriott, the organization has grown from about 40 to more than 700 member companies worldwide in the last three years. To help insure retention, Wehrs intends to highlight the benefits each company gets from membership.

That might include showing how many MMA meetings and events companies attended or how membership helped them achieve certain strategic goals. "It has to be more concrete than just 'this is a good networking vehicle,'" said Wehrs.

While the MMA has established focused on establishing industry standards and best practices, he also wants to expand the group's educational initiatives. "Right now, it's very difficult to put together a mobile campaign," he said. "There are lots of things an advertiser has to know just to do a text message campaign."

Helping companies' develop better understanding of the complex mobile ecosystem via seminars and training programs is therefore a key goal. Relocating to New York will also help the MMA to work with the Interactive Advertising Bureau and other related trade groups toward that end.

Some industry leaders applauded the selection of Wehrs to lead the MMA. "I think he's very articulate, patient and a good explainer," said Dan Miller, a senior analyst at Opus Research. He added that Wehrs technical expertise would also help inform his decisions as head of the industry group.

Paul Palmieri, president and CEO of Millennial Media, agreed. He said Wehrs "had played an active role in the growth of the mobile industry at every level, from technical standards to collaborative growth initiatives."