Experience
In the past 20 years, I earned an MBA at NYU Stern, was a key member of the turnaround team that led to Google purchasing DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, and spent 15 years as a Senior Director, Product Management at Google in New York City, where I hired and led teams that built billion-dollar advertising businesses and made billions of people safer online. I also spent the first decade of my career at a series of colorful and ill-fated dot-com startups. Now I’m director of a lab at Harvard.
Applied Social Media Lab: March 2024 - present
Director of the Applied Social Media Lab at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, with a mission to build social media solutions that center the public interest.
Building and leading a team that will work with experts from academia and civil society to build new software, protocols, and designs to foster healthier human connections.
Email asml@cyber.harvard.edu if you want to learn more and get involved!
Counter-Abuse Technology and Identity: September 2020 - January 2023
Leader of Google’s Counter-Abuse Technology product management team, responsible for platforms and detection systems that protect billions of people from child exploitation (CSAM), spam, malware, phishing, compromised phones, Web botnets, cookie and credential theft, abusive behavior, and more.
In March 2022, also took on product management for Google’s Identity Platform team, responsible for the core Google account system that handles authentication, issuing credentials, and account recovery for billions of users and all Google products, including OAuth for third-party sign-ins.
Delivered material safety improvements for major Google products, including low-latency device attestation and video selfie verification for YouTube; models to identify cross-product trusted users for Maps and Play; improved blocklist management for Search; & a pilot verified sender program for Gmail.
Improved the experience of users subject to Google policy verdicts, reducing appeals drop-off by 50% while also reducing duplicate appeals by 90%; and introducing context into the CSAM evaluation process.
Grew the team 5x, from 9 PMs paired with 200 engineers to 45 PMs working with 600 engineers, including three Director-level hires capable of leading the team after my departure.
Redesigned the group’s annual planning process. The team was badly overextended by taking on too many commitments and constantly reprioritizing. I worked with my eng partner to reorganize into seven sub-teams with clear areas of responsibility; run an annual planning process where each sub-team updated a standard charter including mission, multi-year vision, and measurable goals; and determine a short list of annual headline priorities. This allowed us to improve execution by aligning quarterly goal-setting and results accountability to the headlines.
Member of senior leadership team of Google’s newly formed Privacy, Security, and Safety organization, helping to set the first-ever combined strategy for the group.
Served as the first-ever product director for this small innovation organization dedicated to making users safer from digital conflicts such as organized harassment, state-sponsored disinformation, and government surveillance.
Stabilized a team in crisis. The leaders of Jigsaw’s most important product were in active conflict with the CEO and trying to split the organization, and a muckraking news article added to the churn. I quickly intervened to get agreement on a path forward, manage a smooth exit for the aggrieved leaders, reassure those who remained, and recruit a talented new product manager who could establish a healthy path forward.
Managed a cross-functional team of ten - product managers, UX designers and researchers, and program managers. Cleaned up a tangled org chart, finding the program managers and UX researchers better homes within Jigsaw, and recruiting a new UX design lead.
Launched experiments in online safety, including Assembler (ML to identify manipulated media) and Harassment Manager (open-source tool for documenting & reporting organized harassment campaigns).
Jigsaw: December 2018 - September 2020
Leader of Google Ad Manager (fka DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) and the DoubleClick Ad Exchange), a multi-billion-dollar platform used by thousands of media companies globally (ESPN, eBay, BBC, NewsCorp, Weather.com, Pandora, Electronic Arts, Rakuten, etc) to grow their Web, mobile, and video advertising revenues.
Designed a strategy to unify our products in order to accelerate new business models, and restructured the 20-person PM organization into four subteams with leads that I recruited and mentored. Worked with my engineering counterpart to overhaul product planning for a 300-person eng team, cancel non-essential projects, and implement a “headlines” system to fund top priorities and avoid overcommitment.
Doubled revenue from 2014 to 2017 by launching many features such as First Look (high-value remarketing auction), Programmatic Guaranteed (publisher deals with agencies), Exchange Bidding (turning competitors into partners), new ad formats, and many algorithmic optimizations. Latest announcement: the Insights Engine Project (dashboards, opportunities, alerts, and benchmarks).
In late 2016, added leadership of AdSense, Google’s $1B+ ad network for over 2 million small Web publishers, and a team of six PMs in London. The product had lost momentum after three years of mismanagement. Worked closely with my engineering counterpart to completely replace leadership, resulting in a return to effective planning and growth above target starting in late 2017.
Member of Display senior leadership team responsible for strategy, such as Ads.txt effort to stop ad fraud, the Google News Initiative, and response to Europe’s General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR).
Frequent and in-demand public speaker internally and externally around the world, including keynotes at customer leadership summits, “world tour” all-hands for sales teams, fireside chats at industry events, blog posts and press briefings, one-on-one client meetings, and copious internal reviews with executives.
Google Ad Manager: June 2014 - December 2018
Stepped away from previous projects to initiate three content ecosystem experiments.
Google Contributor, giving consumers a way to pay to remove ads from sites they visit
Google Publish, a content management system (CMS) focused on the mobile Web
“Project Cloverleaf,” optimizing Google AdSense through direct CMS integrations
Content Ecosystem: October 2013 - June 2014
Leader for DFP and the AdSense Front End. Managed a team of 12 product managers teamed with 150 engineers in four global locations.
Quadrupled DFP volume to over 40 billion events per day after its acquisition by Google. Launched DFP Small Business, serving over 20,000 publishers.
Launched new user interface for AdSense in 200+ countries and 30+ languages worldwide to broad acclaim, with optimization tools driving over $100 million in incremental revenue.
Key member of strategic planning team; co-sponsor of Google’s $400mm acquisition of AdMeld.
Worked closely with sales, support, and marketing leadership to redesign commercialization processes.
Extensive public speaking at user groups, executive-level advisory councils, and industry events. Set product positioning working closely with marketing team.
Promoted from Group PM to PM Director in May 2010, and to Senior Director in November 2012.
Publisher Ad Serving Platforms: March 2008 - October 2013
Key member of the turnaround leadership that led to Google purchasing DoubleClick for $3.2 billion.
Managed DFP and related products. Hired and mentored a 6-person product management team.
Set the strategy and pricing that led to doubling publisher platform revenue from 2004 to 2007, reversing years of declines to establish accelerating year-over-year growth, hitting over $150mm per year run rate by Q1 2008.
Released over 50 product enhancements across UI, serving, forecasting, reporting, including the DFP Dashboard for insights and alerts, and DART Sales Manager for sales workflow and financial reporting.
Public face of DoubleClick publisher products -- press interviews, analyst briefings, extensive global travel to customer advisory sessions, industry events, and corporate offices.
Promoted three times, from Product Manager to Director to Vice-President.
DoubleClick Publisher Platforms: May 2004 - March 2008
MBA with concentrations in Marketing and Management
Awards: Harry A. Hopf Scholarship, Director’s Fellowship, Stern Scholar, Beta Gamma Sigma
Notable professors included Brand Strategy with Scott Galloway and Corporate Finance with Aswath Damodaran
NYU Stern School of Business: September 2022 - March 2004
Early Experience
I spent the first decade of my career working at startups in the early days of the Web. I got to meet a lot of colorful characters. I’ve included a few indicative anecdotes below.
Computer Horizons Corporation (London): 2000-2002
Led turnaround of the only overseas office of a $400mm U.S. corporation. Achieved profitability by repositioning the office as a provider of content management solutions to U.K. government. Motivated a demoralized 20-person team through personal mentoring and strategic hires.
Won competitive bids for Her Majesty’s Treasury (named 2001’s best government department site), the British Library, and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. Tripled billings to Dept. for Education and Skills.
Earned a UK security clearance, and got to take photos at the door of No. 10 Downing Street at the end of a raucous Christmas party, except we were so drunk we lost the camera on the way home (this being long before good smartphones).
I spent an ill-fated six months as a hands-on software developer, where I learned that joining an ambitious startup founded by legends from the original Macintosh team immediately after nearly burning out on my last startup was not a recipe for success. I did some useful work helping to choose the platform, architecture, and hosting arrangements for an early effort at Linux system administration services. I was a contributor to the Web services Java codebase and the Perl-based build/tools infrastructure, and helped hire, orient, and supervise a staff of five.
Worked across 101 from the main Google offices, where I got to watch them build the Krispy Kreme.
Vowed to never work with Silicon Valley engineers again after some bad run-ins with ex-Netscape people who thought they were geniuses by association. (ha ha, fate)
Eazel (Mountain View): 2000
Next Planet Over (San Francisco): 1999-2000
Managed interface design, software development, and quality assurance for an online retailer selling graphic novels, games, and pop culture merchandise. Launched on-time and on-quality at the San Diego Comic Convention. Hired and led a 16-person team, managed a $2.4m budget.
Co-chaired a corporate rebranding project, worked with marketing and merchandising on promotional tactics, and supported a system to link site traffic analysis with financial reporting.
Supervised a 100-subject usability study and site redesign that successfully increased the shopping cart completion rate to over 75%, significantly better than the industry average of under 50%.
Advised on business development opportunities including rich media and online auctions.
Slept on a cot at the office for weeks, during which I developed a throat infection so bad I couldn’t talk for two weeks and still get occasional sore throats to this day. Hardcore mode has a cost, kids.
SmartMoney Magazine (Dow Jones): 1997-1999
Managed software development, network operations, and data feeds for SmartMoney magazine’s personal finance portal. Hired and led a 20-person team, managed a $2m budget.
Implemented site traffic analysis, banner ad delivery, and co-branded content licensing.
Collaborated with production and editorial teams to design and develop innovative financial tools.
Wrote the chapter on scalability in Advanced Cold Fusion 4.0 Application Development (Forta et.al.; Que 1999).
The last time I had to wear a tie to work on a regular basis. One of my top career goals was to never do that again.
Created the information architecture and technical design for Consumer Reports magazine’s first Web site, which became the second-largest subscription service on the Web with over 300,000 subscribers.
Nothing bad to say about this one. I got to work with Omar Wasow and Jen Bekman, who were and are amazing people I consider myself lucky to have known.
New York Online: 1996-1997
Led technology and usability initiatives for an online directory service based on the 18-title NetBooks series. Designed navigation and feature graphics, and advised editorial and design staff. Wrote technical exhibit to a $2.5m investment term sheet.
Designed, programmed, and managed the pilot version of YPN, which grew 3,000% in eight months.
Got ripped off with the rest of the team when the founder, Michael Wolff, convinced us to defer our salary and then resigned from his own company after clearing out the payroll account to pay for a family trip to Italy, as told (evasively) in his famous book Burn Rate.
Wolff New Media: 1995-1996
Designed and developed Web sites for the Migraine Boy comic strip (which was honored as a Cool Site of the Day) and the South by Southwest 1995 music festival. Drafted company business plan, press releases, and client bids.
Almost got fired when I accidentally deleted my entire first three months of work product from a PC with no backup.
Left when poor sales led the company to pivot into pioneering work on adult websites, and one of the magazine editors told me the money was good but he couldn’t tell his daughter what he did for a living.
Visual Radio: 1994-1995
Bachelor of Arts, Biology. Senior project: Computer Modeling of Predator-Prey Interactions.
Spent hundreds of hours on PernMUSH and flew to Chicago to meet people IRL which went as well as you might expect.
Got deep into rec.arts.comics.misc (search for Suicide Squid to see what it was like in that era).
Achieved a mediocre GPA that would never have made it through early Google hiring screens.