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IAB appoints new director of policy and regulatory affairs

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Australia has appointed Sarah Waladan as its new director of policy and regulatory affairs, joining from Free TV Australia.

The appointment is effective immediately, with Waladan taking on the role that has been vacant for several years.

She will work with IAB member organisations moving forward, as well as trade associations, policy makers and the IAB global network to distill and navigate the “local and global regulatory frameworks that underpin the digital advertising ecosystem”, present and future.

Sarah Waladan

CEO of IAB Australia, Gai Le Roy, told Mumbrella that the timing of this appointment is particularly important following strong growth in membership and revenue stream, in addition to two government reports on the horizon.

“There’s two large government inquiries, where rather chunky government reports are due quite soon. Both the ad services inquiry from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), and the privacy review from the attorney general. So making sure that we’ve got a resource for our members that can help advise and navigate and pull the industry together with the next steps after those reports, is going to be incredibly important.”

Le Roy also said: “We are thrilled to have someone of Sarah’s caliber joining the team to support our members and the broad advertising industry on issues such as data governance, consumer privacy, transparency, industry codes and working to support the continued growth and evolution of the digital advertising industry.”

Waladan has been at Free TV Australia since 2013, where she held the role of head of legal and regulatory affairs and joint company secretary. In this role, she advised members of the regulatory body on communications law, regulatory and policy issues.

On her appointment at the IAB, Waladan said she is excited to be joining at a time when the industry is experiencing significant growth and online advertising technologies and practices are rapidly evolving.

IAB’s Gai Le Roy

“I look forward to working with publishers, tech platforms and advertisers on the important policy and regulatory issues that the sector faces into the future.”

Her focus at Free TV Australia included broadcasting, content regulation, privacy, copyright licensing and advertising law. Prior to this role, she worked in legal roles across both the public and private sector, also working as a NSW committee member for Amnesty International, a member of the board of M16 Artspace and as a solicitor at Redfern Legal Centre, all in voluntary positions. She has also been a member of Australia’s Right to Know Coalition.

At the end of August, the IAB moved its measurement contract to Ipsos after a decade with Nielsen. Starting in Q2 2022, Ipsos’ Iris platform will replace Nielsen as the sole provider for planning, buying, and reporting of digital audience measurement data in Australia.

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