IAB Leadership Meeting Raises Concerns About Gender and Racial Inclusion in Media – Nancy Galanty, MyersBizNet

Nancy Galanty is the Executive Director of WomenAdvancingorg the largest national organization supporting women in media advertising technology and related fieldsquotJust this week Germany was criticized for forming an antiSemitism commission without including a single Jewish person Sounds counterintuitive right Can a commission support a group of people without giving that very group a voice in the discussion Critics of Germanyamp8217s eightperson antiSemitism commission without Jewish representation say a definitive amp8220noamp8221 and liken it to having a amp8220round table on the discrimination of women without womenamp8221 ExactlyThis week the Interactive Advertising Bureau IAB held its annual Leadership Conference in Phoenix AZ gathering over 1100 leaders in digital media and advertising It was a wellexecuted event led enthusiastically by IAB President and CEO Randall Rothenberg The content was compelling the location and weather was spectacular and the community gathered was smart thoughtful collaborative and fun The content addressed the digital mediaamp8217s usual suspects premium content big data measurement mobile digital video and OTT with speakers from GE Starcom Kraft Foods Hulu Google Maker Studios etcBut there was a new and significant addition to the content focus racial and gender diversity in the digital media advertising and technology communities In his opening remarks Rothenberg included diversity in his six most urgent issues facing our industry today Rothenberg said our collective success depends on how we close the gender and racial skills gap and increase both diversity and retention He spoke of our shared amp8220obligationamp8221 to serve train and retain the underserved and underrepresented in our industry women and multiculturals Throughout Mondayamp8217s main stage agenda almost every speaker took a moment to address and agree with the importance of amp8220building a media industry with talent reflective of the audiences we serveamp8221Now hereamp8217s the rub The IAB announced its Executive Council and Board of Directors positions on Sunday evening highlighting both Dave Morris Chief Revenue Officer CBS Interactive and Lauren Wiener President Tremor Video as the new IAB Chairman and Vice Chair respectively The list of executive council members and board of directors beneath was well absurdly maledominated and absurdly white I counted Of the 43 industry leaders at the helm of the IAB there are four women Lauren Wiener included There are fewer multiculturals included Rothenberg announced the IABamp8217s Education Foundation to increase racial ethnic gender and skills improvement in the digital media and advertising industries Itamp8217s lead by Tim Armstrong Chairman and CEO AOL It probably goes without saying but to make my point Tim is a white man Of the 18 featured speakers on the IABamp8217s Leadership Meeting site only five are women and all are whiteIn the amp8220Girls Loungeamp8221 at 730am Monday during the IAB Leadership Meeting there was a robust femaleonly discussion on racial and gender inclusion and retention led by Shelley Zalis Global CEO Ipsos Sandra SimsWilliams Chief Diversity Officer Publicis Groupe articulated the unique experience both women and ethnic communities have when we sit in rooms as the amp8220onlyamp8221 Itamp8217s an experience of difference white men do not experience with frequency in the media industry if ever Freada Kapor Klein CoChair Kapor Center for Social Impact commented that to impact change we have to identify and showcase leaders who represent the future and who39ve had the unique human experience of being differentSo I pose these questions to the IAB Are you showcasing leaders who represent the future that youamp8217ve stated we need Are you trying to impact change with a group that cannot understand the experience of being different Or are you including the underrepresented voices in an effort to include and serve them Are you doing enough to find and engage those who you seek to attractamp8203 Nancy Galanty is the Executive Director of WomenAdvancingorg the largest national organization supporting women in media advertising technology and related fields She oversees business affairs and the fulfillment of WAamp8217s mission across chapters in nine cities WomenAdvancingorg offers an inclusive environment to women at all career stages promotes and supports both gender and racial diversity and enables dualmentoring and the personal and professional advancement of women Nancy is also Vice President Community and Content at MyersBisNet where she is responsible for the strategic development of MyersBizNetamp8217s B2We Purpose Driven Communities and media platforms including WomenAdvancing Media Legends Media AllStars First5 MediaBizBloggers and Lunch at Michaelamp8217s Prior to joining MyersBizNet Nancy held executive positions at Rhythm NewMedia iMedia Communications and CBS Interactiveamp8203 Check us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates at MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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IAB Leadership Meeting Raises Concerns About Gender and Racial Inclusion in Media – Nancy Galanty, MyersBizNet

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Empowering Women in Media: Insights from Industry Leaders (Video) - By E.B. Moss

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