• by Dave Morgan , Featured Contributor, August 17, 2006

On Tuesday of this week, the Interactive Advertising Bureau announced that its CEO, Greg Stuart, was stepping down at the end of this year to return to the for-profit sector. Greg has run the online advertising industry's top trade organization since November of 2001.

November 2001. Wow! What a year that was. What a time that was.

The dot-com bubble had burst. By April our industry had collapsed, and business shut-downs and layoffs were the order of the day. Then 9/11 happened. Living and working in those days in our industry's de facto headquarters-- the city of New York--meant contending with sirens and soldiers on a daily basis.

The IAB had just changed its name from the Internet Advertising Bureau to the Interactive Advertising Bureau. It had just reorganized its membership structure to focus on the needs of ad sellers, rather than anyone involved in the industry. It had just lost its newly installed, first full-time CEO. And, it had a membership that was long on pessimism and short on hope.  Also short: dollars for dues.

We were an industry adrift. We needed focus. We needed a story. We needed a leader. Enter Greg Stuart.

Greg had a long and storied career in the industry, having not only worked for more than a decade at traditional ad agencies including Y&R's Wunderman, but having also been a top executive at Cars.com and Flycast. He knew advertising and he knew what it meant to sell online ads. He was focused, pragmatic, unapologetic, incredibly optimistic about the future of our industry, and committed to working day and night to get us back on track and to establish us as a peer to television and print media. He was just what we needed.

What a five years it has been. An industry that was trying to squeeze $8 billion a year from dot-com advertisers is now on track for sales of $16 billion this year from the very best brands in traditional advertising and marketing. Did Greg get us here all on his own? Of course not. Did he do more to get us to where we are today than just about any other single person? Absolutely yes.

Today, thanks to Greg, we have T&Cs (standardized Terms and Conditions), we have XMOS (the Cross Media Optimization Study), we have Ad Impressions Standards, and we have credibility. We have a lot. We have an industry that can be proud of its place at the table with the Big Media channels.

Greg, thank you very much. We wouldn't be here without you. Best of luck in your next endeavor.