After two and a half years leading the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada, Chris Williams will be stepping down at the end of this year, the organization has announced.
“It has been a privilege to serve the members of this diverse association; it’s been both demanding and extremely rewarding,” said Williams, in a statement. “My fellow staff are outstanding in their can-do attitude and commitment to building a stronger IAB Canada. I look forward to continuing my contribution to the still evolving digital media in new ways, and in new places.”
Chair of the IAB board of directors Joe Strolz said Williams’s departure reflects the organization’s changing position in the market, largely thanks to the announcement this fall that online advertising spending in Canada has surpassed TV. He said the association’s role has evolved from that of a challenger to that of a trusted industry authority and policy influencer.
“Chris is a builder and a challenger. The organization has gotten to where it is today as a result of that, and to get to where it needs to get tomorrow, it needs an operator and an executor,” Strolz told Marketing.
“This has been a long conversation over the course of the last year in terms of what the IAB is going to be next,” he said. “When you are the primary investment mechanism for marketers in terms of total dollars spent, you have to shift your position, and move much more into leadership, cultivation of the marketplace, tools for enablement for marketers, and [discussions] with public policy makers around the future of the business.”
Barbara Smith, partner at brand consultancy Aprais and former director of brand engagement at The Globe and Mail, will take on the role of interim IAB president when Williams leaves at the end of next month.
During his tenure, Williams helped steer the IAB through parallel transitions into programmatic advertising, social media, native advertising and mobile media. He was instrumental in working with the government to address industry concerns around the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). Recently, he took a strong stance in the fight against online ad fraud, and drove forward talks to create a seller identification standard for online ad exchanges.
One of the IAB’s proudest moments came this fall when its annual marketer budget report found that in 2013 digital advertising revenue in Canada had surpassed TV for the first time. Williams said at the time the finding was a great and gratifying achievement for the IAB and the digital advertising industry, and the culmination of 16 years of hard work since the organization’s founding.
Before taking on the role of president, Williams was a member of the Board of Directors for ten years. He has previously held the position of SVP managing director at Media Contacts Canada, and has held executive roles at VBDI and BBDO Interactive.
The IAB president is chosen by a committee of the IAB board of directors and has no fixed term. Previous president Paula Gignac served for eight years.
The organization said it will begin the search for a new president immediately.
