iSpot has added to its C-suite, naming former Rakuten Rewards CRO Julie Van Ullen as the measurement vendor’s new president and chief revenue officer.
At iSpot Van Ullen will oversee sales, marketing and customer success, spearhead media partnerships and business development, and lead client-focused data science teams.
She will report to iSpot CEO and Founder Sean Muller.
Van Ullen joins iSpot from Rakuten Rewards – the ecommerce giant’s loyalty rewards program – where she served as CRO and helped drive 135% revenue growth, per the hiring announcement.
She brings expertise on the advertising front key to iSpot, as the vendor said her Rakuten leadership also had “an immediate and measurable impact” on successful rollouts of new advertising tools, the integration of advanced measurement and data capabilities, and scaling strategic partnerships with brands, agencies and platforms.
“Julie is a dynamic leader with a proven track record of building high-growth teams and fostering trusted relationships with customers across the media and advertising ecosystem,” said Muller in a statement. “She has a clear vision for how iSpot’s measurement and data assets will power performance and efficiency in the next generation of advertising — and the kind of passion and energy required to drive success.”
Van Ullen joined Rakuten in 2018 as general manager and later managing director at Rakuten Marketing, where she led U.S. commercial operations for digital ad products. Prior to her promotion to CRO of Rakuten Rewards Van Ullen was managing director and head of revenue at the loyalty program, where she oversaw monetization strategies. Under her leadership in that role, Rakuten Rewards said the company experienced an average of 17% year-over-year growth and increased its retail merchant base by 32%.
Before Rakuten, Van Ullen held buy- and sell-side leadership positions at Comcast SSP FreeWheel and OpenX.
She also brings advertising industry experience as a member of the board of directors at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) since 2020, helping shape standards for advertising measurement and efficacy. Earlier in her career she worked at the IAB organization for eight years, including as vice president of member services.
Van Ullen is the latest C-suite addition for iSpot, which in July tapped Craig Ziegler as its new chief product officer.
iSpot continues to build out an executive team as it advances data-driven measurement products, and like vendor VideoAmp is also working to serve as alternate currency for TV ad buyers and sellers to transact on, as long-time incumbent ratings giant Nielsen remains under scrutiny.