Sonal Patel, the regional head of business development for MoPub, Twitter’s mobile ad server, is leaving the company to take a senior management role at ad tech firm AppNexus.
Patel brings to an end three years with Twitter to take on the APAC MD job for the company part-owned by WPP. She will continue to be based in Singapore.
Patel told that she was pleased to be joining AppNexus at a time when the company was growing quickly in Asia Pacific, and that the firm was “at a tipping point where data is powering adoption of programmatic in the region.”
AppNexus’s CEO Brian O’Kelley said that Patel’s “deep programmatic experience and regional influence” would would help establish AppNexus as the “platform of choice for all participants in the digital advertising marketplace.”
Patel, who is treasurer of the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Singapore, joined Twitter in 2013 after six years running a digital advertising company she co-founded, VietBuzzAd. Over an extensive career in digital marketing, she has worked at Google, Buddy Media, Yahoo, Expedia and the demand-side platform Adgile.
O’Kelley added: “While others are pulling back, AppNexus is moving forward with key strategic investments in talent and technology, particularly in APAC. In addition to our global clients who maintain strong and growing presences in the region, we are increasingly working with APAC-first marketers, agencies, and publishers to deliver innovative solutions in growing markets like China, India, and Singapore.”
Alexander Kleinberg, MD of MoPub for Asia Pacific and Japan, at Twitter, paid tribute to Patel’s contribution to the business and said her duties would be absorbed by her colleagues.
“Sonal has been an asset to MoPub and Twitter, and we wish her all the best in her new role,” he said. “MoPub is continuing to grow strongly in Asia, and I do not expect any impact to our business as her responsibilities are covered by other members of the team.”
