• by Ray Schultz , March 17, 2025

Dotdash Meredith (DDM) has named Jim Lawson as president of D/Cipher, its contextual advertising solution. 

Launched in 2023, D/Cipher analyzes billions of consumer interactions and content signals across DDM's 40+ brands without relying on cookies or personal identifiers.

More recently, DDM launched D/Cipher+, which uses DDM’s signals and data modeling solutions enhanced by the firm’s partnership with OpenAI. 

Lawson was a co-founder and former CEO of AdTheorent, a machine-learning powered media-buying platform. The firm was sold to private equity firm Novacap and merged with Cadent, Inc. in 2024.

"Nearly 200 million people connect with DDM brands monthly, so we know better than anyone that context is the strongest indicator of what consumers want," says Neil Vogel, CEO of DDM, to whom Lawson will report. "Simply, understanding consumer intent at a given moment drives ad performance way more effectively than personal data."

Vogel adds that Lawson “is a true innovator who built the industry's leading DSP not reliant on cookies."

The D/Cipher team now consists of 50 people, including Lindsay Van Kirk, senior vice president and group general manager, and Jon Roberts, chief innovation officer at DDM.

Commenting on his new colleagues, Lawson says, “We share the perspective that there is a huge need for ad-targeting solutions based on the types of data signals that only DDM can provide with its unmatched scale and sophistication.”

Lawson adds: "It's time to make the open web more valuable for advertisers – accessible, brand safe and performance-focused."