• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, July 23, 2007

At a critical time for the Web video startup, Brightcove has lost one of its key public figures in Adam Gerber, who has decided to pursue other as-yet-unnamed interests.

Gerber joined the company in late 2005 as vice president of advertising products and strategy with the primary goal of developing ad formats to leverage Brightcove's video distribution model.

"Adam did what he set out to do at the company," said Adam Berrey, Brightcove's vice president of marketing and strategy.

"Losing him is obviously a huge disappointment, but we have the management and the right connections in the advertising and media communities to move forward," Berrey added.

Gerber will maintain an advisory role within the company, along with vested financial interests. He was not available for comment last week.

Like other new media experts leaving Madison Avenue for the supply side in 2005, Gerber came from MediaVest, where he spearheaded digital strategies for big clients like Coca-Cola Co. and Procter & Gamble.

Aiming to develop an infrastructure for distributing TV programming online, Web pioneer Jeremy Allaire founded Brightcove in 2004 and immediately began recruiting from established companies--including News Corp., Comcast, Macromedia, Lycos, and ATG.

Since then, the company has racked up a number of victories, most recently winning video-distribution duties for Fox Entertainment Group last month. Other top-tier publisher partners include Dow Jones, The New York Times Company and CBS News.

Earlier this year, Brightcove secured $59.5 million in investments from the likes of The New York Times Company and top investment manager AllianceBernstein L.P.