Power of Peace Board of Advisors

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DAVID VERKLIN, CEO, CANOE VENTURES

 David Verklin serves as CEO of Canoe Ventures, LLC, a joint venture founded in 2008 by the country’s leading cable operators.  Based in New York City, the company is focused on enabling advanced advertising technologies and making them easier to buy, use and measure.  Under David’s leadership, Canoe Ventures is developing addressable, interactive and data solutions that will make TV more valuable for marketers and viewers.  Since being named CEO of Canoe Ventures, David has been named to Mediaweek’s “Watch List 2009” and recognized as one of the industry’s most influential people among the “CableFAX 100.” 

Prior to joining Canoe Ventures, David was CEO of Aegis Media Americas, where he quickly grew capitalized media billings to approach $7 billion annually.  He revolutionized the industry by unbundling the media services agency and creating a 360-degree service offering for clients, and he reinvented the agency model by integrating on and offline marketing services with the merger of Carat Fusion and Carat USA.  This resulted in one operating company that became the largest fully integrated on/offline agency in the world.  Also during his tenure at Aegis, David wrote a book, “Watch This, Listen Up, Click Here,” a user’s manual for understanding the new media landscape, published by John Wiley and Sons. 

David is a recognized leader.  In 2007, he was appointed Media Lions Jury President at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.  He has been inducted into the American Advertising Federation (AAF) Hall of Achievement and recognized as a Mediaweek “All Star” and Ad Age “Media Maven.”  Writing about David, Ad Age asked the question, “…is there a single other human being who has been as much of a leader, visionary, a force for change and a voice of optimism in the media and marketing industries over the last 15 years?” 

David serves on the Boards of the American Advertising Federation, the New York Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Power of Peace and the Ad Council. He also serves as Director-at-Large for the American Association of Advertising Agencies. In 2008, the UJA Federation's Global Leadership honored him with an Award for all of his progessional and philanthropic achievements.

David began his career at Young & Rubicam, New York and then helped create Hal Riney & Partners in San Francisco, first serving as its Media Director and later as its Managing Director.  Under his leadership, Hal Riney grew into one of the largest privately held advertising agencies in the U.S.  David is a graduate of the University of Virginia.