The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is placing a familiar industry heavyweight at the helm just as digital advertising faces its next structural reset. The trade body has named Alison Levin, President of Advertising and Partnerships at NBCUniversal, as Chair of its 2026 Board of Directors, with Alan Moss, VP of Global Advertising Sales at Amazon Ads, stepping in as Vice Chair.
The leadership shift comes at a pivotal moment. Digital advertising is once again being forced to reinvent itself—this time under the combined pressure of generative AI, privacy regulation, shifting measurement standards, and the rapid convergence of media and commerce. IAB’s choice of leaders suggests the organization is leaning into executives who sit at the crossroads of premium media, platforms, and performance‑driven advertising.
Why This Appointment Matters Now
IAB doesn’t just convene conferences or issue whitepapers—it sets many of the standards that quietly shape how digital advertising actually works. From banner ad specifications in the early web era to today’s frameworks around commerce media, CTV measurement, and responsible AI, the organization has often acted as the industry’s de facto referee.
Levin’s appointment signals a continuation—and escalation—of that role.
At NBCUniversal, she oversees advertising strategy across linear TV, streaming, and partnerships, giving her direct exposure to the industry’s thorniest issues: how to measure cross‑platform reach, how to balance data‑driven targeting with privacy expectations, and how to make premium content work in an AI‑accelerated marketplace. Her earlier experience at Roku, coupled with service on the IAB Board since 2022 (most recently as Vice Chair), rounds out a resume built around the streaming‑first era.
Moss, meanwhile, brings deep platform and commerce DNA. His career spans Amazon, Google, and PayPal, and at Amazon Ads he operates at the intersection of media, retail data, and outcomes—an area where much of the industry’s future growth is expected to land.
Together, the pairing reflects where power and complexity now sit in digital advertising: not purely with publishers or platforms, but in the systems that connect content, commerce, and measurement at scale.
AI Is the Subtext—and the Headline
IAB CEO David Cohen didn’t mince words about the scale of change ahead, calling the current moment “transformational” rather than incremental. His comments framed AI not as another optimization layer, but as a force that touches every part of the value chain—from creativity and workflow to privacy and consumer trust.
That framing matters. Over the past year, nearly every major ad tech player has rushed to attach “AI‑powered” labels to products. What’s been missing is consensus on standards, accountability, and outcomes. IAB has already begun addressing this gap through its responsible AI initiatives, but the next phase will likely demand sharper guidance—especially as generative tools move from experimentation to production.
Levin echoed that need for collaboration, emphasizing the importance of bringing together “diverse voices from across the ecosystem.” In practice, that means reconciling the priorities of broadcasters, streamers, platforms, agencies, and advertisers—groups that increasingly operate on different business models and timelines.
Moss was more pointed on outcomes, highlighting the need for new measurement solutions and AI that “creates actual value.” That’s a subtle but meaningful distinction at a time when marketers are growing wary of black‑box models and inflated promises.
A 30‑Year Milestone—and a Reality Check
The leadership announcement coincides with IAB’s 30th anniversary, a milestone that invites both celebration and introspection. The organization has been present for every major phase of digital advertising’s evolution: static display ads, search, social, programmatic, mobile, CTV, and now commerce media and creators.
To mark the occasion, IAB is hosting a retrospective panel, “IAB at 30: From Foundations to the Future,” moderated by Cohen and featuring past board chairs. The agenda reads like a compressed history of the industry—early privacy debates, programmatic’s rise, and today’s AI‑driven shift.
What’s notable is how many of those “new” challenges echo old ones. Measurement fragmentation, trust, and transparency have been recurring themes for decades. The difference now is scale. AI doesn’t just automate buying or targeting; it rewires how ads are created, optimized, and even perceived by consumers.
As Carryl Pierre‑Drews, IAB’s EVP and CMO, put it, the industry has moved from “static banners to immersive, interactive, AI‑powered experiences.” The next question is whether governance and standards can keep pace.
A Board That Mirrors the Industry’s Power Centers
Beyond the chair and vice chair appointments, the 2026 IAB Board of Directors reads like a map of modern advertising influence. New members include Brian Monahan of Albertsons Media Collective and Heidi Zak, co‑founder and CEO of ThirdLove, underscoring the growing importance of retail media and direct‑to‑consumer brands.
Returning directors span virtually every corner of the ecosystem:
Netflix, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Disney, Walmart, Target, Nielsen, LiveRamp, PubMatic, Criteo, and major agency groups like Publicis, WPP, IPG, and Carat. Traditional publishers and broadcasters—from Condé Nast and Hearst to Warner Bros. Discovery and National Public Media—sit alongside commerce and data‑driven players.
This breadth isn’t accidental. As advertising budgets continue to fragment across CTV, retail media networks, and social platforms, consensus‑building has become harder—and more necessary. Standards around identity, measurement, and data usage increasingly require buy‑in from competitors with very different incentives.
The executive committee, which includes Levin, Moss, Cohen, and leaders from General Motors and National Public Media, reflects another trend: advertisers themselves are taking a more active role in shaping the rules of engagement, not just reacting to them.
Context: How This Compares to the Wider Market
IAB’s leadership shift comes as other industry bodies and consortia are also rethinking their mandates. The Media Rating Council (MRC) continues to wrestle with cross‑platform measurement, while groups like the World Federation of Advertisers push for brand safety and accountability in AI‑driven environments.
At the same time, platforms are moving fast—sometimes faster than standards bodies can respond. Amazon’s expansion of retail media, Netflix’s growing ad‑supported footprint, and Google’s ongoing privacy sandbox efforts all reshape the playing field in ways that demand coordination.
By elevating leaders from NBCUniversal and Amazon Ads, IAB appears to be acknowledging that the future of digital advertising will be defined less by any single channel and more by how media, data, and commerce intersect.
What to Watch Next
In the short term, expect IAB to sharpen its guidance around AI usage—particularly as generative tools move deeper into creative and media planning workflows. Measurement—especially for CTV and commerce media—will remain a pressure point, with advertisers demanding clearer links between spend and outcomes.
Longer term, the challenge will be trust. As ads become more personalized, automated, and AI‑generated, consumer skepticism is likely to rise. How the industry balances innovation with transparency may determine not just performance metrics, but public perception.
Levin’s background in premium media and Moss’s grounding in performance‑driven platforms suggest IAB is aiming to bridge that gap. Whether the organization can translate alignment into action is the real test.
Thirty years in, digital advertising is once again being asked to prove its value—this time in an AI‑shaped economy. With new leadership at the board level, IAB is signaling that it intends to stay at the center of that conversation, rather than chasing it from behind.
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