Digilant, a Boston-based programmatic solutions provider, announced Alan Osetek as its new CEO on Tuesday.
Osetek last served as the global president of Omnicom Media Group’s Resolution Media.
“We were looking for someone that understood programmatic media in the broadest sense,” said Don Epperson, CEO of ISP Digital. “[Osetek is] a great fit for us and [what he did at Resolution is] exactly what we hope that he does for Digilant.”
ISP Digital is a holding company formed in 2014 to provide programmatic solutions across owned, earned and paid media. Digilant is its paid arm, with sister companies Accesso and Antevenio operating owned and earned media solutions, respectively.
In addition to expanding Digilant’s global footprint, Osetek plans to offer a unified programmatic product across markets. “Many of the Fortune 500 to Fortune 5,000 companies have worked with service providers on a by-country basis. We see that consolidating rapidly because it’s difficult to work with partners across markets,” Osetek told AdExchanger.
Digilant was founded as Adnetik in 2009 by Havas Digital executives, including its then-CEO Epperson. Fernando Rodez, CEO of Havas Media at the time, was the company’s initial investor. As Adnetik grew and began servicing clients and agencies outside of Havas, it rebranded as Digilant.
“Havas really never owned anything in regards to Adnetik, although they were a large client at first,” Epperson explained. “We’ve always been an independent programmatic company owned by the Rodez family.”
Digilant’s client base has since evolved globally across nine countries, but its mission to provide a comprehensive programmatic solution to clients hasn’t changed since launch, said Epperson.
“We [at Digilant] look at ourselves as one of the first truly global programmatic providers that’s currently privately owned and has the ability to adapt to the market place,” Osetek said. “We have size and scale, but we [also] have the ability to adapt as the programmatic space changes. You don’t really see it happening too much on a global scale, which will be a unique differentiator for us.”
Today, Digilant offers self-serve and managed programmatic solutions. Both Digilant and ISP Digital have been profitable for the past three years. ISPD has roughly 600 employees across 14 countries.
Digilant’s management has been in a build-out process, with Epperson was standing in as CEO. Osetek, who won the job against 10 other candidates, is the last hire in a six-month search to complete Digilant’s and ISP Digital’s management teams.
