Brian D. Lesser is an American businessman who is the former CEO of

Xandr Xandr, Inc. (pronounced "Zander") is the advertising and analytics subsidiary of Microsoft, which operates an online platform, ''Community'', for buying and selling consumer-centric digital advertising. In December 2021, AT&T announced that th ...

Family and education

Born about 1975, Lesser was introduced to the advertising industry at an early age by his father, Michael S. "Mike" Lesser, who was chairman and CEO of Lowe Marschalk (later Lowe & Partners Inc.), then president of

Ogilvy & Mather Ogilvy is a New York City-based British advertising, marketing, and public relations agency. It was founded in 1850 by Edmund Mather as a London-based agency. In 1964, the firm became known as Ogilvy & Mather after merging with a New York City a ...

New York. Mike Lesser was also general manager of The November Group, the advertising arm of the

Committee for the Re-Election of the President The Committee for the Re-election of the President (also known as the Committee to Re-elect the President), abbreviated CRP, but often mocked by the acronym CREEP, was, officially, a fundraising organization of United States President Richard Nix ...

, formed solely to create an ad campaign for the

1972 United States presidential election The 1972 United States presidential election was the 47th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 7, 1972. Incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon defeated Democratic Senator George McGovern of South Dakota. Un ...

; he was the inaugural lecturer, in September 2012, of

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...

's Politics on the Public Mind program. Lesser received a BA in Political Science from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1996, then earned an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from

Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one ...

in 2004. He resides in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

with his wife and three children.

Career

In 2006, Lesser was vice president of 24/7 Media, then senior vice president of the Media Innovation Group, LLC (known as “The MIG”). In 2011, he founded Xaxis as a subsidiary of

GroupM WPP plc is a British multinational communications, advertising, public relations, technology, and commerce holding company headquartered in London, England. It was the world's largest advertising company, as of 2019. WPP plc owns many compan ...

; he then became CEO of GroupM in November 2015, overseeing six media agencies. In October 2017, Lesser was recruited by former GroupM client

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

as CEO of Advertising and Analytics. In September 2018, Advertising and Analytics was renamed

, and Lesser was appointed CEO. In 2014, Lesser was named to the '' Ad Age's'' “40 Under 40” list and, in 2018, was recognized by ''AdWeek'' as "Executive of the Year".

References

External links

"AT&T's Brian Lesser on the future of advertising"
''CNBC'';

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (formerly the International Advertising Festival) is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the ...

; June 20, 2018; Accessed August 9, 2019. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lesser, Brian 1970s births Living people American telecommunications industry businesspeople American chief executives Businesspeople from New Jersey University of Pennsylvania alumni Columbia Business School alumni AT&T people

Family and education

Career

See also

References

External links