• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, April 12, 2010

Canoe Ventures, the 2-year-old initiative from the largest cable operators, has put together an advisory board. The company promises to launch a national interactive advertising opportunity this quarter.

Jim Garrity of consulting firm Bellwether Digital Bridge and Wachovia's former CMO will serve as chairman of the 11-member group. Canoe's head of marketing Vicki Lins will serve as vice chair.

Beth Comstock, who led digital ventures at NBC Universal and is now CMO at GE, is a member, along with ANA head Bob Liodice.

Providing "a depth and breadth of knowledge across a range of disciplines" is how David Verklin, CEO of Canoe Ventures, characterized the board in a statement.

"We look forward to the board's insights to help drive development of products and services that will accelerate the evolution of television," he said.

Canoe's addressable advertising product -- its first planned offering -- was placed on hiatus last year, due to some concerns about functionality. Meantime, the company shifted focus, debuting an iTV system that would allow an advertiser to run an interactive ad across homes served by six different cable operators. Those are Canoe's owners: Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Charter, Cablevision and Bright House.

Other members of the advisory board:

-Wendy Clark, senior vice president, integrated marketing, communications and capabilities for the Coca-Cola Co. -David Droga, founder and creative chairman of Droga5 -Mark Kvamme, partner and venture capitalist at Sequoia Capital -Wes Nichols, co-founder and CEO of MarketShare Partners -Mike Pohl, CEO, Jinni Media, Ltd. -Gokul Rajaram, co-founder and CEO of Chai Labs -George Wiedemann, CEO, UMarketing LLC