Don Albert

Business leader, Business mentor, Concerned citizen, Entrepreneur, Idea generator, Marketer, Parent

Don is an innovative leader who has built and led teams at some of the world's leading Internet and media companies, as well as at startups pioneering new media, advertising, and commerce models. His experience spans marketing, sales, BD, and general management. Most recently, Don helped build AdsWizz into the global market leader in ad tech solutions for digital radio/audio. AdsWizz was recently acquired by Pandora. Before AdsWizz, Don was the VP and GM of the Americas and Global Advertising at Skype for 5-1/2 years, and was part of the executive team that sold the company to Microsoft. Prior to Skype, Don led the business development team at eBay that developed strategic partnerships with marketers and built a significant advertising revenue line. He was recognized as Marketer of the Year by Promo magazine for his team's innovative marketing partnerships. Don pioneered and evangelized new digital media models beginning in 1989, when he led the first-ever online sales and e-commerce teams at Prodigy, an early online service. He led early efforts in local online advertising at AOL's Digital City and at washingtonpost.com, where he was part of the launch team. He led early efforts to sell the branding value of online advertising at PointCast, and helped launch an emergent mobile advertising industry in 1999 as a founder and the first Vice Chairman of the Mobile Marketing Association. In addition to his media sales experience, Don has built and led outbound marketing teams at both established media brands and startups. He built and led marketing teams at startups fusionOne, AOL Digital City, and Skype. He also led brand marketing and ad sales development at both Sports Illustrated and Newsweek magazines. Don holds a BA in Politics from Princeton University, and an MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business.

Building new digital brands, Inventing and executing new models, Managing through growth, uncertainty, and change, Marketing, Monetizing digital media, New advertising models, Online audio, Strategic partnerships