- Freestar appoints Oliver Burns as Chief Technology Officer (formerly EVP Engineering)
- Freestar reinforces its Product, Engineering, Data Science, Supply Technology and Marketing leadership with V-level hires
- Freestar names Matthew Whaley Chief Strategy Officer (formerly COO)
PHOENIX, March 19, 2024, the leading monetization partner for content publishers and e-commerce sites, today announced that Oliver Burns has been appointed Chief Technology Officer. Burns' promotion to the role underscores Freestar's commitment to product innovation and building the next generation of advertising technology leveraging machine learning and Artificial Intelligence in new ways.
Reporting to Chief Executive Officer, Kurt Donnell, Burns will oversee Freestar's extensive ad product portfolio, maintain excellence in engineering and drive the data science and AI agenda. This tripartite role provides a platform for Burns to build more award-winning solutions for Freestar's premium publishers.
A stalwart of tech development, Burns spent over 20 years leading Product, Engineering and Digital Marketing at Totaljobs and Stepstone, joining Freestar in 2021 as part of its Triple13 acquisition. Since then, he has overseen the company's data science team that developed its award-winning Dynamic Ad Stack technology, recently named AdWeek's AI Tool of the Year.
Joining Burns are four other key tech hires; Jared Canova, SVP of Engineering (formerly Penske Media Corporation), Jamie Murphy, VP of Product (formerly Amazon), Martin Hill, VP, of Supply Technology (formerly Magnite/Rubicon and IPONWEB) and Burns' former Totaljobs colleague, Hugh Barnes, VP of Data Science. Combined, they bring almost 100 years of industry experience, further cementing Freestar's already impressive tech prowess.
"We continue to invest and hire in the areas where our business will best serve our publishers. Publishers want to work with a partner that can be flexible to their changing needs and that they can trust to ensure that they reach their revenue potential," says Donnell. "That means weaving deeper technology expertise into every facet of our business."
"These hires provide us with yet more capacity and expertise to support them in all the right areas; whether that be through automation, further building out our Dynamic Ad Stack features or navigating complex challenges such as privacy and compliance."
With these changes come additional strategic moves reinforcing Freestar's commitment to the goals of its publishers. Matthew Whaley has been named Chief Strategy Officer (formerly COO) and new hire, Eve Cross, joins from MiQ, as Vice President of Marketing following the company's hire of Heather Carver as Chief Revenue Officer in September of 2023.
"This doubling down on tech and talent coupled with a laser focus on the needs of premium publishers ensures that we are better capable than ever to help to future-proof our partners in this ever-evolving publishing and programmatic landscape," says Donnell.
About Freestar
Freestar engineers cutting-edge monetization solutions for websites and apps. Leveraging industry-leading technology, data science and massive scale, the company's passionate team of 200 ad tech experts enable busy website and app owners to seamlessly maximize revenue while freeing themselves of the hassles of ad operations.
Freestar's ever-expanding family of publisher and app developer partners reach over 70% of all U.S. internet users each month and provide unique opportunities for advertisers to reach their target audiences efficiently at scale.
The company has been recognized as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States on the annual Inc. 5000 list for each of the last 5 years, most notably in 2019 when Freestar was number 1 on the list. The company has been honored with a myriad of other awards, including the 2023 AdWeek AI Tool of the Year and the 2023 Titan Business Awards Customer Service Team of the Year.
Headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ, the company has team members spread across the world in thirteen different countries.
For more information, visit www.freestar.com.
Media Contact
Eve Cross
VP, Marketing Freestar
eve.cross@freestar.com
+447951291868
