LOS ANGELES, CA — (Marketwire) — 02/22/13 — Ophir Tanz, founder and CEO of GumGum (), the premium in-image ad platform for brands and publishers, today announced the appointments of Mike Feltz, Brian McFarland and Matt Weisbecker to new regional Vice President roles. Reporting to Tanz, each will focus on leading GumGum-s sales efforts in three key U.S. markets, reflecting the company-s recent growth and expansion.
“We are delighted to add Brian, Mike and Matt to help round out our leadership team with significant digital media and publishing experience,” said Tanz. “Each of these guys is a proven leader with a track record of sales success and management expertise. Their contributions across their respective regions will play an important role in taking GumGum to the next level of its growth.”
McFarland brings more than two decades of digital media and sales leadership experience to GumGum, working across categories such as consumer electronics and travel. Prior to joining GumGum, McFarland was National Digital Sales Director for Wenner Media, responsible for leading digital, mobile and tablet sales efforts for RollingStone.com and MensJournal.com. Previously, he led the Eastern sales region for SAY Media (formerly VideoEgg), a digital publishing company — where he grew the office to drive $31 million in just its fifth year. Earlier in his career, McFarland directed sales strategy for media properties such as Business 2.0, Country Home, and Good Housekeeping.
Most recently Director of Sales, Midwest for USA Today, Feltz brings more than 25 years of experience in digital media sales and the publishing industry to GumGum. At USA Today, he oversaw media sales for the company-s online, mobile, tablet and print products — securing advertisers such as P&G, Bank of America, Applebee-s and Avis. Previously, Feltz served as Director, Midwest Advertising Sales for Reuters Media, where he established the sales team in the region and achieved significant year-to-year sales growth across all product areas. Earlier in his career, Feltz directed sales strategy for leading media companies such as Yahoo! and The Weather Channel/Weather.com. He serves as Vice President of the Chicago Interactive Marketing Association, and is an Advisory Board member of the Broadcast & Cinematic Arts for Central Michigan University.
Weisbecker joins GumGum with over 15 years of regional sales and business development experience. Most recently, he was Director National Sales & Strategy for Amazon Media Group, where he oversaw the entertainment vertical for Amazon-s extensive media offerings such as Amazon Mobile, IMDb, IMDb Mobile and Kindle/Kindle Fire. Prior, he spent six years at NBCUniversal, most recently as Vice President of Sales Western Region, where he built the local sales office and led growth strategy for NBCU digital media properties including NBC.com, SyFy.com, USANetwork.com, Bravotv.com and NBCSports.com. Previously, Weisbecker was Regional Sales Director for Aol.
GumGum is the premium in-image advertising platform for publishers and brands. Reaching 60 million unique visitors per month as they actively view images across hundreds of premium websites, GumGum serves contextually relevant ads that yield far higher engagement than those of traditional display advertising units. In addition to helping advertisers reach highly targeted audiences in a brand-safe environment, GumGum gives publishers a new way to earn revenue by overlaying interactive ad units on the photos within their sites. Founded in 2007, GumGum is credited with inventing the in-image advertising category, having displayed its first in-image ads in February 2008. The company is headquartered in Santa Monica, California and its investors include NEA, GRP Partners, First Round Capital and Crosscut Ventures. For more information, visit or call (310) 260-9666.
Alysha Walker
212-966-9525
You must be logged in to post a comment Login