Former AOL, Microsoft execs sign on with self-serve ad platform

Small and medium sized businesses may get some indirect help from two heavyweights in the online advertising world. This week, self-service advertising platform AdReady announced that former AOL Vice-President Mark Feldman and former Microsoft Direct of Project Management Saleel Sathe have joined their firm.

by Kristina Knight

While with AOL, Mark Feldman was the vice president of network development. In his new role with AdReady, Feldman will manage the sales organization and create or build upon partnerships between AdReady and online publishers. For marketers utilizing AdReady's self-serve features this could result in more opportunities for ad placement as well as increased performance for ad campaigns.

While with Microsoft, Saleel Sathe was the director of product management for Microsoft's adCenter; his role with AdReady will be to develop and guide product strategies through the launch phase.

“Mark and Saleel bring a wealth of experience and knowledge in online advertising to AdReady,” said Aaron Finn, AdReady CEO. “As small and medium size businesses increasingly look to online marketing, AdReady is perfectly positioned to provide them with an easy and effective way to reach customers.”

Since the fall of 2007, AdReady has made moves to place their ad product before more marketers and given small to medium sized marketers another option for their tight advertising budgets. Their new platform was launched in October and gave small businesses the ability to conceptualize and create online advertising campaigns. Upon campaign launch, marketers could track ad performance and make quick adjustments to maximize ROI.

Earlier this year, the company secured $10 million in additional funding to increase advertising opportunities and functionality of the platform.