About

Evgeny
Popov.

Builder at heart.

Global operator by experience.

Focused on product, technology, culture, and commercial growth.

Global · Authentic · Inquisitive · Resilient · Thought Leader
Evgeny Popov
AdCP · Founding Member
DMEXCO · Official Columnist
IAB · Leadership across three chapters
Board · NYC  ·  Co-Chair · Singapore  ·  Member · Sydney
Forbes · Tech Council (2023–2024)
MediaSpace · Global Advisor (2024)

New York–based global media executive with 25+ years of experience across APAC, LATAM, MENA, EMEA, and the Americas. I build teams, products, and technology across SaaS, DaaS, IaaS, and PaaS that unlock growth for companies ranging from startups to large enterprises.

I'm an entrepreneur at heart. I co-founded eCoffeeCard, Australia's largest coffee loyalty platform, and exited via acquisition by BeatTheQ in 2014. I've also been part of the core team on two more exits — HotelClub.com (acquired by Expedia) and Lotame (acquired by Publicis, during my international build-out across APAC, EMEA, and LATAM).

My work sits at the intersection of marketing technology, data, media, and client strategy. I've worked across the sell side, buy side, agency side, and global technology and data vendors, helping teams turn complex products into clear market value.

I am also an AdCP Founding Member, former IAB leader, DMEXCO columnist, and Forbes Tech Council contributor, advising vendors on where to scale, what to fix, and what not to waste time on.

By the numbers

25+
Years building global AdTech
3
Successful exits (founder + core team)
4
Continents (APAC · EMEA · LATAM · Americas)
117+
Published bylines across 12 outlets
235+
LinkedIn peer endorsers
51+
Certifications (cognitive science, neuroscience, GMP)

Strengths

  • Strong operations, product and technology background
  • Architecting scalable data and technology products and services
  • Expanding and developing data and tech vision, innovation and growth strategy
  • Creating efficiency and automation at every touchpoint
  • Worldwide organizational design — leading high-performance global teams
  • Working through a customer-centric lens of reciprocity and empathy
  • Authentic, ambidextrous leadership with self-awareness and compassion
  • Global growth expansion evangelist — market strengths in APAC, EMEA and LATAM

Exits & founder work

Three liquidity events across two decades — one as founder, two as part of the core team during the period that led to acquisition.

  1. Founder exit
    2011 — 2014
    eCoffeeCard BeatTheQ
    Co-founder & CTO

    Co-founded Australia's largest coffee loyalty platform — 250K+ downloads, 3.5M+ page views, 1,500 partner venues across iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows. Exited via M&A acquisition.

  2. Core-team exit
    Jun 2015 — Jun 2020
    Lotame Publicis
    EVP, Global Data Solutions

    Actively scaling Lotame's international data business — APAC, EMEA, and LATAM — at the time of acquisition. Built the APAC data exchange from launch to nine-figure run rate during tenure.

  3. Core-team exit
    Jul 1999 — Sep 2006
    HotelClub.com Expedia
    Technical Team Lead

    Managed 11-person engineering team (Sydney, Philippines, India) building the 3-tier e-commerce platform during the period that led to acquisition by Expedia.

Experience

  1. May 2025 — Present

    Global Head of Enterprise · Samba TV

    New York, NY
    • Own global growth for Data License (DaaS), Measurement, and Identity. Lead a multi-product expansion ladder driving consistent double-digit YoY growth and high net retention.
    • Built the enterprise acquisition engine — built around a Brand & Agency ICP — and a vertical GTM motion across CPG / Retail, Pharma / Telco, and Platforms; scaled Media & Entertainment to multi-million ACV.
    • Manage Sales, Solutions Engineering, and Customer Success as one integrated commercial org.
  2. Jun 2022 — Present

    Co-founder & CEO · No Fluff Advisory

    New York · London
    • Strategic executive advisory for AdTech, MarTech, and data vendors. Four dimensions: international market entry, global BD, monetization, organizational design.
    • Focused on rapid worldwide growth — Series A through growth stage, $5M to $150M revenue, scaling toward defensible international position.
  3. Sep 2022 — Aug 2024

    EVP, GM — International Growth · Verve Group

    New York, NY
    • P&L across the Verve portfolio: Verve DSP (Platform 161), Match2One, and Moments.AI (formerly Beemray). Reached DSP EBITDA-positive in under 18 months with strong double-digit CAGR.
    • Managed a 100+ person commercial org across US, EMEA, LATAM and MENA (120+ extended team).
    • Owned worldwide product roadmap and the GTM strategy for EMEA, MENA, and LATAM.
  4. Nov 2020 — May 2022

    Executive Managing Director · Hearts & Science (Omnicom)

    New York, NY
    • Managed and nurtured a 350+ person org across Marketing Science, Data, and Technology — attrition under 7% in 2021 during the Great Resignation.
    • Initiated a company-wide MarTech six-module certification program upskilling the entire 1,100+ agency workforce.
    • Built and rolled out the cookie-deprecation Data Strategy framework across the full client portfolio — AT&T, Amgen, Warner, P&G and others.
  5. Jun 2015 — Jun 2020

    Executive Vice President (Global) · Lotame

    New York, NY (via Sydney + Singapore)
    • Four promotions in five years. Built the APAC data exchange and DMP business from launch to nine-figure run rate at triple-digit YoY growth.
    • Took over global Data business (DaaS, IaaS) from New York. Every team member hit 100%+ on-target in 2019 (113% average).
    • Signed 40+ enterprise partnerships including Salesforce and PubMatic.
    • Was actively building Lotame's international business across APAC, EMEA, and LATAM at the time of acquisition by Publicis.
  6. Apr 2019 — Jun 2020

    Board Member — Data Center of Excellence · IAB

    New York, NY
    • Co-designed Project REARC — the industry-wide effort to rearchitect digital advertising for post-identifier addressability.
  7. Apr 2014 — May 2020

    Co-Founder — APAC Chapters · AdTech Meetup

    Sydney · Singapore · Hong Kong
    • Co-founded and ran the AdTech Meetup community across three APAC cities, building grassroots education + relationships for the regional ad-tech industry.
  8. Feb 2016 — Jun 2017

    Co-Chairman — Marketing & Ad Technology · IAB Singapore

    Singapore
    • Chaired a committee of SEA industry leaders building a measurable framework for the regional interactive advertising market.

Education

  • 2022
    Global Master of Business Administration (GMBA)
    Macquarie University Sydney
    Non-credited online program. 20 units via Coursera with 5 specialization diplomas.
  • 2003
    Graduate Diploma in Operations Research
    University of Technology Sydney
    Computational and Applied Mathematics — quantitative management, network and combinatorial optimization.
  • 2001
    Bachelor of Information Technology
    Moscow Aviation Institute
    Specialization in Applied Mathematics, Physics, and Economics.

Notable certifications

From a 51+ certification list across cognitive science, AI, blockchain, and platform tooling — the ones worth naming.

  • Stanford
    Cryptography I
  • Harvard
    Fundamentals of Neuroscience
  • Yale
    Introduction to Psychology
  • Duke
    DeFi Specialization (4 courses)
  • Edinburgh
    Know Thyself (The Examined Life + The Unconscious)
  • DeepLearning.AI
    Generative AI with LLMs · Neural Networks & Deep Learning
  • Jordan B. Peterson Lab
    Discovering Personality
  • Macquarie
    GMBA · 20 units · 5 specialization diplomas
  • Google
    GMP: CM360 · DV360 · SA360 · GA4 (active)
  • The Trade Desk
    Marketing Foundations · Data-Driven Planning · CTV

Endorsed for

235+ peers have endorsed me on LinkedIn across the disciplines below. Real signal from people I've actually worked with.

  • Online Advertising 130
  • Programmatic Media Buying 7
  • Digital Media 90
  • Digital Marketing 50
  • Data Strategies 9
  • Statistical Data Analysis 6
  • Go-to-Market Strategy 2
  • Strategy 16
  • Leadership 3
  • Team Leadership 6
  • Executive Leadership 2
  • Executive Management 2

Published in

AdExchanger, AdNews, Advertising Week (AdWeek), ANA, Campaign Asia, DMEXCO (columnist), ExchangeWire, Forbes (Tech Council), MediaPost, Media Makers Meet (M3X), The Drum, and Performance Marketing World (PMW).

Full bibliography →

Frameworks I've published

  • EARO · Exposure → Attention → Relevance → Outcome. A holistic model for measuring marketing effectiveness in the agentic AI era. Grounded in Vervaeke's relevance realization. 22 metrics across 4 components. Whitepaper →
  • Agentic Audiences (UCP) · A Technical Specification for Embeddings-Based Agent-to-Agent Advertising. IAB Tech Lab specification, donated by LiveRamp Q4 2025. 77-page normative spec. Read spec →
  • Behavioral Prediction Framework · 21 psychographic dimensions for ad activation, designed to predict engagement with probability above 0.85. Cognitive, rational, attachment, personality, and temperament profiles. Read →
  • 7-Step Market Entry Audit · The operating methodology for international AdTech, MarTech, and data vendors entering the US market. Shipped on every engagement. See methodology →

All frameworks →

Elsewhere

LinkedIn · Medium · Substack · Forbes · X / Twitter · Agentic Advertising