TAG Announces Key Hires to Support Double-Digit Growth

WASHINGTON, DC – August 14, 2017 – The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG), an advertising industry initiative to fight criminal activity in the digital advertising supply chain, today announced that more than 350 companies have now applied for TAG Registration, an increase of more than 75% in the last three months alone. Highlighting its expanding global reach, more than 80 of those applicants are based outside the United States, representing 26 countries on six continents.

“TAG Registration is now a baseline requirement for doing business in the digital advertising ecosystem,” said Mike Zaneis, CEO of TAG. “In less than three years, TAG has established itself as the preeminent global organization fighting crime and increasing transparency in digital advertising, and we are aggressively building out TAG’s staff and infrastructure to support our growing program and member needs.”

A prerequisite for participation in TAG’s multiple seal programs, TAG Registration verifies that companies are legitimate participants in the digital advertising industry. After a proprietary background check and review process powered by Dun & Bradstreet and subsequent approval by TAG, companies can be verified by name – or by their unique, persistent TAG-IDs – in the TAG Registry.

To help support its ongoing expansion and serve its members, TAG also announced key staff hires, including Michael Hahn, who joins TAG as General Counsel (in addition to serving in that same role for the Interactive Advertising Bureau, as announced last month), Bonnie Niederstrasser as TAG’s Director of Policy and Programs, and Dominique Matthews as TAG’s Manager of Operations and Compliance.

“The fight against criminal activity in digital advertising requires deep knowledge of technology, advertising, law, and policy, and our new team members have strong backgrounds and deep expertise in addressing those complex and interrelated topics,” continued Zaneis. “We look forward to working with Michael, Bonnie, and Dominique as we create a safer, more trustworthy, and more transparent supply chain for all participants in digital advertising.”

As General Counsel, Hahn is responsible for all legal matters for TAG, including legal strategy, antitrust compliance, intellectual property rights issues, and general corporate and contractual matters. In her new role, Niederstrasser oversees TAG policy development and provides membership support for the TAG Community, including participation in TAG programs and working groups and engagement in thought leadership initiatives. Matthews maintains and updates TAG’s internal systems to support its members, while also running TAG’s Registration System and Compliance Officer Training Program.

Hahn joins TAG from Lowenstein Sandler LLP, where he served as Vice Chair of the firm’s Antitrust Practice Group. In that role, he provided clients with strategic counsel around competition, distribution and governance issues. In the area of litigation, Hahn’s experience includes multi-party class action antitrust defense representation, as well as lawsuits involving competitor conduct, distributional restraints, monopolization, price discrimination, and other complex commercial claims.

Prior to joining TAG, Niederstrasser served as a Senior Product Manager at Charter Communications, Inc., where she oversaw monetization and media sales for Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks’ online and mobile owned and operated properties. Niederstrasser also managed media planning, audience measurement, and digital analytics products for comScore, Inc., and she drove over $30MM of ad product and inventory revenue for AOL’s advertising division.

Matthews brings more than a dozen years of experience in client service, compliance, and data operations. Most recently, she worked in a variety of data quality and client service roles with CoreLogic SafeRent (formerly known as First Advantage SafeRent).

About the Trustworthy Accountability Group

The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) is the leading global certification program fighting criminal activity and increasing trust in the digital advertising industry. Created by the industry’s top trade organizations, TAG’s mission is to eliminate fraudulent traffic, combat malware, prevent Internet piracy, and promote greater transparency in digital advertising. TAG advances those initiatives by bringing companies across the digital advertising supply chain together to set the highest standards. TAG is the first and only registered Information Sharing and Analysis Organization (ISAO) for the digital advertising industry. For more information on TAG, please visit tagtoday.net.

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