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OpenX has appointed Robert Horler as Chief Executive Officer, succeeding interim Chief Executive Joshua Metzger at the advertising technology company.
He joins after 15 consecutive quarters of year-on-year revenue growth and will lead the business as it expands its work in programmatic advertising, buyer-direct relationships, artificial intelligence tools and software products.
Horler brings 30 years of experience across media, advertising and adtech in the US and Europe. He previously held Chief Executive roles at Dentsu Aegis Network in the US and Northern Europe, and senior posts at The Financial Times and News Corp.
He has also held operational responsibility for organisations generating more than USD $1 billion in revenue. Before joining OpenX, he founded, built and sold Diffiniti, a search and performance marketing agency.
More recently, Horler served as Chief Executive and then Board Member at creator and social agency Whalar, where he supported the founders as the business grew from 40 employees to more than 300 before its acquisition by Accenture earlier this year.
Leadership change
Horler replaces Metzger, who had been serving as interim Chief Executive. Metzger will remain at OpenX as Chief Legal Officer.
Tim Cadogan, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board at OpenX, said the appointment is intended to build on the company's recent commercial progress and strengthen its position in digital advertising.
"Rob is a proven leader who knows how to grow businesses while staying close to customers and understanding their evolving needs, including agentic optimization," said Tim Cadogan, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board at OpenX.
"His experience delivering operational excellence, driving profitable growth, and building strong cultures makes him the right leader to move OpenX forward."
Cadogan said Horler's background on both the agency and publisher sides of the market was a factor in the decision. His experience at The Financial Times and News Corp gave him direct exposure to how publishers manage content monetisation and audience relationships, while his time at Dentsu Aegis Network placed him on the buying side of the advertising market.
Strategic focus
Horler will focus on the next stage of programmatic advertising through closer direct relationships with buyers, the use of AI-enabled products and the development of software offerings. OpenX also pointed to OpenXBuild, a platform it said offers an independent identity graph, cloud-native infrastructure and AI support.
In his first remarks after the appointment, Horler pointed to trust with publishers and buyers as a key part of the company's market position.
"OpenX has earned something rare in this industry: the trust of the publishers and buyers it works with every day," said Robert Horler, Chief Executive Officer at OpenX.
"I've sat on every side of the table, and with OpenXBuild, the company is uniquely positioned to deliver marketers both performance and ownership of data models while providing mutually beneficial monetization to publishers. I'm excited to work with this team to accelerate what comes next."
Cadogan also thanked Metzger for his time leading the business and confirmed he would continue to play a senior role in the company's management.
"Josh's most important contribution as acting CEO was to promote focus and execution across the organization, and we are very thankful for his leadership," said Cadogan.
"In returning to his role heading our legal strategy, Josh will be an important partner to Rob and a key contributor to the future direction of the company."