The First 40

Tapad founder and CEO Are Traasdahl has more than 15 years’ experience in mobile and digital content. In addition to Tapad, Are holds several board positions for start-up companies and is the President of Spring Capital. Prior to Tapad, he founded Thumbplay, a mobile entertainment service that he grew to more than $100MM in revenues before he exited the company in 2008. He was previously a senior executive with Telenor Group, an international provider of telecom, data and media communications services. Are is a native of Norway and has lived in the U.S. for more than a decade.

Dag Liodden is Tapad’s co-founder and CTO. Dag oversees all technological advancements for the company, including Tapad’s notable breakthroughs in delivering targeted advertising across platforms. Prior to Tapad, he was the co-founder and CTO of Giant Leap Technologies AS, the premier Business Mobility solutions provider in the Nordic region. While there, Dag managed some of the largest wireless enterprise solution rollouts in Europe. He began programming at 6-years-old and has a Master’s Degree in Science, Industrial Economics and Technology Management from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Joined Tapad at its inception. Previously served as Product Manager for Massive Inc., a Microsoft subsidiary; and, as a Business Analyst at McKinsey. BS from Stanford University.

Seasoned media + tech sales exec; one of Tapad’s earliest hires. Previously in senior sales roles at 24/7 and FAST (acquired by Microsoft). BBA in Marketing from Pace Univeristy.

Formerly Product Director at MediaMath and a Lockheed Martin Senior Systems Engineer. BS in Systems Engineering from University of Virginia; MS in eBusiness Technology from Carnegie Mellon.

Deep experience in online advertising sales; including key roles on sales teams at Forbes and as Collective Media’s top East Coast Salesperson. BS in Marketing at Sacred Heart University.

Nearly a dozen years of development under his belt, key positions at Accenture, Thumbplay (now part of Clear Channel) and Mint Digital. Carnegie Mellon, BS in Computer Science.

More than a decade in finance/accounting with both publicly traded/privately-held organizations; includes key roles at Sonic, Fleming and New York Mercantile Exchange. University of Central Oklahoma, B.S. in Accounting.

Kimberly Waichulis is based in Chicago and, as VP of the Central Region, is leading the company’s aggressive expansion throughout the region. Waichulis joined Tapad with more than 13 years of experience in pivotal sales roles for emerging technology companies and has already established new Tapad offices and robust teams in Detroit and Chicago. She most recently served as Regional VP, MediaMind (DGIT). Prior to that, she held senior roles at TradingPartners and VisaNow. She earned her degree in Business Management & Organization Behavior from Benedictine University and attended the University of Iowa with a focus on English.

PJ Miele, VP of West Coast Sales, oversee’s Tapad’s presence in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Miele is joining Tapad from AOL Advertising, where he was running AOL’s largest sales team in the Western U.S., and was a member of the senior leadership team. His purview included AOL properties, Advertising.com, Video and Mobile. Previously, he held national sales roles at Experian and Yahoo! (YHOO). Miele earned his B.A. in Business Economics from UC Santa Barbara.

Mike was previously Director of Software Engineering at Clear Channel Radio where he served as principal architect for the iHeartRadio platform (backend infrastructure & mobile apps). Before that, he held senior engineering positions at adMarketplace and Goldman Sachs. In addition to Tapad, Michael also serves as an Advisor to MaterialWrld and is a mentor at iMentor, a program that helps low-income kids.

Prior to Tapad, Nick was Director of Product Management at Adobe, overseeing Adobe’s data management platform AudienceManager (formerly Demdex). He previously held several senior positions at Yahoo! and at various digital marketing and web analytic firms.