Specific Media

Tim Vanderhook
Co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer

Tim Vanderhook co-founded Specific Media in July 1999 when he recognized a need in the industry for an ad network that offered premium-site publishers and delivered efficient ROI results for advertisers.

Tim was largely responsible for creating the pop-under ad unit in 2001, when the dot com fallout began. Web publishers needed a new source of revenue to continue operating their companies and advertisers lost sight of the value traditional banners offered. The popular unit provided a large canvas for advertisers to deliver their messages and a new source of revenue for web publishers.

As the Internet ad industry continued to evolve and the pop under ad unit started to fade in popularity, Tim shifted the company's focus toward creating advanced user targeting technologies to support all standard IAB ad units.

Since 2002, he has developed one of the most advanced ad serving platforms in the industry, which gives advertisers the unique ability to serve ads to users based on demographic, behavioral, contextual and geographic data across the web's most popular brand publishers. Today, Specific Media's Premium Network boasts the biggest roster of brand publishers on the web with brand names such as Yahoo, Marketwatch, ABCNews, FOX Sports, MLB.com and virtually every other major media company.

Tim is responsible for the strategic direction of Specific Media and communicating the corporate mission to external audiences.

Chris Vanderhook
Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer

Before assuming his current title, Chris served as the company's Senior Vice President, overseeing day-to-day operations including all aspects of sales, media buying and ad operations.

Prior to joining Specific Media, Chris was a Personal Banker specializing in small business financing at Bank of America. He became a top-ranked associate regionally and nationally for his outstanding achievement in the procurement of new business finance clientele.

Chris received a BS degree in Business Administration at the Marshall School of Business from University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Russell Vanderhook
Co-Founder, Senior Vice President

Russell oversees the implementation of new products for Specific Media and plays a key role in maintaining the company's technological edge.

Prior to assuming his current title in January 2003, he served as Chief Operating Officer of predecessor, Advertisement Banners.com, where he was responsible for day-to-day operations.

Todd Treusdell
Chief Executive Officer of Europe and Co-Founder of Adviva Media

Todd Treusdell Chief Executive Officer of Europe and Co-Founder of Adviva Media, Todd has led the company forward to become the largest quality, cost-per-thousand (CPM), brand and response focused online network in the UK with expansion operations in Germany and France.

Todd has been a leader in international internet businesses since 1996 where he was responsible for the creation and growth of European operations for a start-up company, Hiway Technologies (web hosting) and its VAR channel RapidSite. He established operations in the UK, Germany, France, Denmark and Spain, with additional OEMs with Swisscom (Switzerland) and Infostrada (Italy). Hiway/RapidSite was acquired in 1999 by Verio, Inc., where Todd continued as Head of Verio's European Operations and oversaw two additional Internet technology acquisitions until Verio was acquired by NTT Communications for $5.5 billion in 2000.

Previously, Todd held management positions with SmithKlineBeecham, Nomura International, and Ford Motor Company along with having received a MBA from The College of William and Mary, VA and a BS from David Lipscomb University, TN.

Colin Petrie-Norris
Managing Director, International Specific Media

Colin Petrie-Norris joined Specific Media in 2008 as International Managing Director bringing an unrivalled depth of knowledge in the online advertising industry and years of experience to the company's executive team. Petrie-Norris' responsibilities include managing Specific Media’s portfolio of international business and overseeing European growth and expansion into new territories. As Specific Media continues its aggressive growth strategy in Europe and builds on its current market share, Petrie-Norris will spearhead the development of the company's rapidly growing client base across the region.

Prior to Specific Media, Petrie-Norris served as Chief Operating Officer of Advertising.com’s International Division, where he oversaw the company’s operations in UK, France, Germany, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Finland and Denmark. Petrie-Norris developed and executed a successful realignment business strategy for Advertising.com Europe through the centralization and restructuring of operations, process re-engineering, creation of client services, the formation of advanced analytical teams and pioneering numerous technology advancements.

Before joining Advertising.com, Petrie-Norris was Business Manager at Capital One in Johannesburg and in Nottingham, UK where he piloted the first credit card in the South African market specifically targeting the underserved segment and launched a secured-credit card product for the UK market respectively.

Petrie-Norris received a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Cape Town in South Africa and is an accredited professional engineer.

Rupert Staines
Vice President of Europe

Rupert Staines, Vice President of Europe, joined the UK’s premium ad network in late 2005 to lead the expansion into Europe. His Online Advertising experience goes back to 1998 when he created the European operation for Valueclick Inc. (NQ: VCLK), opening offices in London, Paris, Munich & Madrid and living through their successful IPO in 2000. He has been a company director for the last 8 years with a primary focus on generating revenue from commercially viable opportunities in the Licensing, Brand Development and Online Media sectors.

Rupert brings to Specific Media 15 years of Business knowledge and experience in International Operations, Digital marketing, Media Sales, Intellectual Property and Brand Management with Adviva, Fastclick, Hasbro Inc., Valueclick Inc., The Nest, Associated Newspapers and BMW AG. Rupert holds a BA (Hons) German & Management Science from Royal Holloway University, London.

Tony Laskar
Director of Business Development

Tony Laskar joins Specific Media as Director of Business Development. He will be responsible for business development and the overseeing of all european marketing initiatives assuring growth for Europe.

Prior to Specific Media, Tony was Head of Product Management for Adviva Media investigating and project managing new product developments. Before joining Adviva Media, Tony obtained 14 years experience working within leading multinational corporations. At Vodafone he was principally responsible for building the financial investment plans and was a member of the Executive Operations Group at Hitachi Semiconductor, where he created pricing strategies and business plans. He also initiated and successfully completed major business opportunities supporting global revenue growth.

Tony Laskar holds a M.A. in International Business from London South Bank University – Business School.

Tania Bruning
Finance Director of Specific Media UK & Europe

Tania Bruning Finance Director of Specific Media UK & Europe, joined the company in early 2007. Prior to this she was Financial Controller of easy-forex.com, an online platform for trading foreign exchange currencies, where she was responsible for finance and administration.

She has also worked for FTSE 100 companies including Johnson Matthey Plc and Home Retail Group Plc (formerly GUS Plc), where she advised the Board and Audit Committees of risk management and internal audit issues. Prior to this, Tania was part of the Group Strategy team at GUS Plc that managed the Initial Public Offering of Burberry Plc on to the London Stock Exchange. She also set up her own retail business in 2004, successfully running the finance, sales, purchasing & marketing of 3 home interior shops in Central London.

Tania qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 1997, where she gained valuable experience in accounting and financial management. She received a BA in Business Administration with German from Middlesex University, London.

Steve McCartney
Head of Technology Europe

Steve McCartney Head of Technology Europe is responsible for all aspects of technical operations in Europe and developing Specific Media’s global ad serving platform and ad management system.

Whilst at Adviva Media Steve designed, developed and implemented their proprietary ad-serving platform that powered the growth of the company since 2000 and continues to innovate in the fields of Behavioural and Contextual targeting in parallel to scaling the platform to address Specific Media’s global audience.

Steve holds a Masters of Engineering in Materials Science from St. Catherines College, Oxford University.

Katie Collier
Director of Media Buying at Specific Media UK

Katie Collier is Director of Media Buying at Specific Media UK. Her primary focus includes the development and implementation of the media buying strategy for the UK’s leading independent online ad network. Aside from managing key strategic partners, Katie is central to the expansion of Specific Media’s data advantage.

Prior to Specific Media, as Director of Publishers, Katie has been an active contributor to Adviva’s growth since joining in 2004. Katie has fostered and developed relationships with new and existing publishers and implemented growth strategies to achieve the premium publisher network that is unique to Adviva.

Katie holds a BA (Hons) in Advertising and Marketing Communications from the Media School at Bournemouth University.

Virginia Ammann
Director of Network Operations

Virginia Ammann Director of Network Operations is responsible for the creation and implementation of Network Analysis, Performance Strategy and Client Services in the UK.

Prior to Specific Media, Virginia has over 7 years experience in the online marketplace, joining Adviva Media at it’s inception. As Director of Advertising, Virginia was responsible for revenue growth, sales strategy and the development of the sales team in the UK, and was instrumental in establishing Adviva’s reputation within the UK marketplace.

Virginia has a BA (Hons) in Advertising & Marketing Communications from Bournemouth University.