Who We Are

Since 2017, KERV has been dedicated to unlocking true value from video through AI-driven intelligent video technology. We deliver the highest-performing content, with the unparalleled relevant context and precise actionable insights advertisers need to make videos work smarter, not harder. 

KERV started as a small team working out of an apartment in downtown Austin with just the beginnings of our technology solutions. Today, we have teams across the US, delivering industry-leading technology solutions.

No matter how much KERV grows, one thing remains the same—our values.

Adaptive Resilience
Advocacy & Championing
Integrity
Heart-Centricity

Mission

We uncover precise, actionable insights to evolve the media landscape toward our vision of the future. We use these to introduce interactivity that puts people first, combining passion with excellence. We are responsible for this expertise, and for using it to push industries forward.

Vision

We will redefine how people connect and interact with media, anywhere and everywhere. We will be relentless in building a new gold standard for consumers, creators, and brands. We will do this by using the technology, methodology, and tactics that will best carry this future into the present.

Awards

Leadership

Gary Mittman
Chief Executive Officer
Dan Bienenfeld
President
Marika Roque
Chief Innovation Officer
Jay Wolff
Chief Revenue Officer
Taylor Pate
Chief Technology Officer
Michael Fleischman
Chief Financial Officer
Lauri Baker
SVP, Head of Partnerships
Grant Gorton
VP, UX & Design
Bill Roberson
VP, Creative Strategy & Design
Dan Bloomfield
VP, Technical Ad Operations
David Knight
VP, Engineering
Brad Quinn
SVP, Enterprise & Publisher Partnerships
Ryan Schoenfeld
VP, Technical Partnerships
Rich Kentopp
VP, Product Management
Lauren Salisbury
SVP, Operations & Client Success
Lindsey Kain
SVP, People & Culture
Lin Boesen
VP, Marketing
Jake Williams
VP, Brand and Agency Partnerships
Mark Corte
VP, Brand and Agency Partnerships

Careers

At KERV, we take pride in our growing, vibrant business and team.
We strive to foster growth and a culture centered around teamwork.

DEI Statement

KERV is committed to learning. At KERV we aim to cultivate a work environment where each person, no matter the identities they hold, not only feels safe, seen, and heard, but also celebrated. We are early in our journey to move toward being a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable organization and recognize there is no end to this work.

KERV is committed to community. We recognize and are inspired by the people and organizations in our local and global communities that are actively creating a more just world. We have committed to regularly donating in‑kind and financially to support the important contributions of these groups.

KERV is committed to change. We know it’s not possible to create technology that is completely neutral or unbiased and it is our responsibility to not only continue to identify the biases in our product, but mitigate those as well. Through our participation in the IAB AI Standard Working Group: Ethics & Bias in AI, KERV is committed to creating more equitable technologies that work for everyone.

KERV is committed to building a more equitable world.

Developed in partnership with Conscious Roots and Marlo Barrera Consulting.

Get in Touch

Lauri Baker
SVP, Head of Partnerships

Lauri Baker is a results-driven ad tech executive with over 25 years of experience leading innovation at the intersection of creativity, data, and technology. As Senior Vice President, Head of Partnerships at KERV, she leverages AI-powered video solutions to help brands and agencies connect with consumers in more meaningful and measurable ways.

Lauri has held leadership roles at Infillion/TrueX, where she oversaw strategic partnerships, and at Discovery, where she was instrumental in growing the company’s streaming business. She co-founded HuffPost Partner Studio, pioneering the native advertising space, and has been recognized as one of NewsCred’s 50 most influential content marketers.

A frequent speaker at industry events, Lauri shares insights on the future of video, data-driven marketplaces, and the evolving digital ecosystem.

Lin Boesen
VP of Marketing

Lindsay is the Vice President of Marketing at KERV Interactive, where she oversees brand positioning, communications, events, sales and product marketing, as well as full-funnel growth across all paid, owned, and earned media channels.

With over 15 years of experience, Lindsay has successfully merged her passion for branding, design, writing, and the psychology of consumer behavior into a career marked by driving award-winning marketing programs for cutting-edge martech companies. Her efforts have consistently led to triple and double-digit increases in brand awareness, media placements, and revenue.

At Vibrant Media, a pioneer in contextual advertising, Lindsay managed marketing teams across the US, UK, France, and Germany. She established the brand as a globally recognized leader in innovative rich media and video ad placement and targeting strategies, contributing to annual revenue exceeding $120 million.

As Vice President of Marketing at Pulsepoint (a merger of ContextWeb and Datran Media), Lindsay rebuilt the marketing function from the ground up. She successfully repositioned the brand and product offering from a managed service ad exchange into a global programmatic SaaS platform, achieving a 106% revenue growth during her tenure. PulsePoint was subsequently acquired by Internet Brands in 2021.

Lindsay is a third-generation Brooklynite and has a B.A in Communications (Magna Cum Laude) from Loyola University and is trained in Graphic Design & Art Direction from The School of Visual Arts.

Lindsey Kain
SVP, People & Culture

Lindsey is currently SVP, People & Culture at KERV Interactive, acting as a strategic advisor and business partner across the full landscape of HR specialities including talent strategy development, employee engagement and retention, organizational development including change management, org design, staff planning, talent acquisition, employee relations, total rewards, DEI, and learning and development. She has a strong belief in the power of building authentic relationships with employees at all levels of the organization and acting as an advocate for the business and employees, as the success of one relies on the success of the other.

Prior to joining KERV, Lindsey started her career in the financial sector before moving into the advertising and tech industry. She has held several leadership roles during her time with WPP, the world’s largest advertising agency group, overseeing HR for multiple US offices before moving into a role on the Global Leadership team overseeing an offshore global marketing operations division of 3,500 employees. She also has experience building out HR infrastructure for a scaling tech company which grew to 3,500 employees globally. 

Lindsey holds a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management as well as a SHRM-SCP certification, a behavioral competency-based HR certification for Sr. level HR professionals leading the alignment of HR strategies to organizational goals.

Lauren Salisbury
SVP, Operations & Client Success

Lauren Salisbury is currently the SVP of Operations and Client Success at KERV.ai, bringing over 15 years of experience to the advertising and tech industry. Her expertise spans multiple areas, including pricing and planning, margin management, sales revenue tracking and insights, process and packaging across ad operations and digital buying, as well as interactive creative, partnership packaging and positioning, and scaling new products. 

Prior to joining KERV, Lauren began her career in strategic media planning and digital buying, working with several top Fortune 500 companies, eventually advancing to a leadership role at TrueX, an ad tech firm now known as Infillion. There, she successfully led the National Sales Strategy team through a significant period of growth by managing multiple acquisitions and rebranding efforts.

Her passion and focus is on the customer—driving automation at each point in the process while maintaining the human element of client service. To build successful operations, her focus is on the people—setting up processes to empower critical thinking and creative problem solving.

Jake Williams
VP, Brand & Agency Partnerships

Jake Williams is the VP of Brand and Agency Partnerships at KERV.ai. He joined KERV in 2021 as one of the inaugural members of the Brand and Agency Partnerships team. Since then, he has successfully expanded the team of partnership leads and now manages the East Coast portfolio. 

Before joining KERV, Jake held a role at GumGum, where he led partnerships with PHD Media. His career began at Digitas, where he worked on the American Express account. Outside of work, Jake has an adorable dog named Luna—after whom one of our conference rooms is named. Fun fact: Jake is a triplet!

Mark Corte
VP, Brand & Agency Partnerships

Mark Corte is the VP of Brand & Agency Partnerships for the Midwest and West regions at KERV.ai. He leads a team focused on growing KERV’s AI-powered video solutions by showing advertisers how turning their standard video and static creative into interactive, shoppable experiences drives higher engagement, deeper interaction, and higher sales conversions. 

Mark has 20+ years of experience developing and executing sales strategies across existing and emerging media platforms. He has built strong relationships with decision-makers and representatives of Fortune 500 brands, as well as leaders in corporate innovation and transformation—relationships rooted from his experience at The Trade Desk, Warner Bros. Discovery, and The Weather Channel. His previous experiences paved his path to a career in streaming and linear video across sports, news and entertainment, as well as OLV, display, programmatic, and data-driven audience-buying solutions. Mark has built trust with his clients and team by prioritizing clear, transparent, and direct communication, and by exemplifying agility, grit, and grace under stress.

Mark lives with his wife and three teenage boys, who have him busy as an unpaid rideshare driver across great Los Angeles. He’s a native Chicagoan—still a fan of all Chicago sports teams, (sans the Cubs)—and an alum of the University of Iowa.

Rich Kentopp
VP, Product Management

Rich Kentopp is the VP of Product at KERV.ai, where he leads the Product Management team and plays a key role in shaping the company’s technology strategy. Since joining, he has scaled the Product team, built new channels of communication between technology and the business, and partnered cross-functionally to deliver innovative solutions that drive measurable business impact.

With over a decade of experience scaling startups across the health tech, social impact, and ad tech industries, Rich brings a blend of strategic thinking, team-building, and user-centered approach to his work. His leadership is grounded in empathy and clarity—skills shaped by both his pastoral background and formal theological training.

Rich holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary. His time in ministry continues to influence his approach as a technology leader: mission-driven, collaborative, and people-first.

Devin Monds
Head of EMEA Sales

Devin is a dedicated and experienced media sales professional with over 15 years in the digital media space in both North America and EMEA. He most recently headed up the International Team at Adludio, the premier advertising platform for delivering strong creative on mobile devices. Prior to his role at Adludio, Devin worked on the Global Brand Partnerships team at CAA Sports in London, and was International Sales Director at LoopMe where he built out the US West Coast Sales Team from Los Angeles. With a proven track record of new business development and revenue generation, Devin has a multitude of solid relationships with brands and agencies, globally.

He relishes the opportunity to engage with new clients on a daily basis, in order to identify tailored solutions that can drive their desired outcomes. Furthermore, he takes pride in his culinary skills, often experimenting with new recipes and delivering delectable results.






    Brad Quinn
    SVP, Enterprise & Publisher Partnerships

    Brad Quinn is the SVP of Enterprise Partnerships at KERV.ai, spearheading collaboration across Publishers, Platforms and Retail Media Networks. Focusing on KERV’s patented metadata, he establishes and leads relationships with content providers and platforms to bring contextual targeting, brand safety and interactivity to life. He works with both US-based and Global partners. 

    Prior to joining KERV, Brad began his career at Publicis as a Buyer and Planner before moving to Paramount and then Warner Brothers Discovery in Sales & Business Development roles.

    David Knight
    VP, Engineering

    Before joining KERV in 2018, David Knight spent over 31 years building software products for large corporations like IBM and Schlumberger, 3-person “garage” startups and everything in between. He’s spent the last 15 years discovering and refining the tools, development process, and necessary culture that create great Engineering teams capable of meeting the special demands of technology driven startups.

    Dan Bloomfield
    VP, Technical Ad Operations

    Daniel Bloomfield is the VP of Technical Operations at KERV.ai. He oversees the Ad Operations teams, which supports the set-up and trafficking of campaigns across all DSPs and ad servers. His team also investigates and helps resolve discrepancies and ad-related issues. 

    Before joining KERV, Daniel has had a long career in digital advertising. He began his career working for NBC Universal in 2006, and after moving to Austin, he continued his career by continuing to work with TV publishers on VAST and VPAID ads. In 2014 he began to work in the programmatic ad space. 

    Daniel has a Bachelor’s of fine arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design.

    Creed Pettit
    SVP, Head of Partnerships

    Creed Pettit is an entrepreneurial sales executive offering experience in all aspects of solutions selling, team management, negotiation, organizational leadership, go-to-market strategies and momentum driven models. Prior to joining KERV, Creed served as Media & Entertainment Vertical Sales Leader, Global Business Solutions at TikTok.

    Karen Germ
    VP of Marketing

    Karen Germ is a seasoned marketing and communications professional with a nearly 15‑year history serving in leadership roles across the advertising and technology landscape. Most recently, Karen served as OAAA’s VP of Marketing where she implemented industry leading initiatives to elevate and promote the power of OOH for advertisers, agencies, partners and consumers. 

    Ryan Schoenfeld
    VP, Technical Partnerships

    Ryan Schoenfeld is currently the VP of Technical Partnerships at KERV.ai, and is responsible for bridging KERV’s robust metadata and ad toolset with tech platforms in the space. Additionally, he spearheads mapping industry infrastructures and systems across ad servers, SSPs, and SSAI platforms, with the ultimate goal of innovating in the most efficient and scalable ways for KERV’s partners. He is passionate about strategy and is constantly looking for net-new solutions that will maximize partner outcomes and amplify results. 

    Prior to joining KERV, Ryan started his career at a small, local, media-buying agency that was later acquired by LIN Media before undergoing two more acquisitions into Nexstar Broadcasting. During this time, he expanded into management and leadership roles focusing on media buying and programmatic strategy before ultimately joining KERV to lead operational strategy with a focus on media planning and programmatic buying.

    Ryan holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and has been leading strategic teams for over ten years.

    Bill Roberson
    VP, Creative Strategy & Design

    Bill Roberson is the VP of Creative Strategy and Design at KERV.ai. Bringing over 17 years of experience in the digital space, Bill specializes in Media Buying, Client Services and Ad Operations, including Media Optimization and Publisher development. 

    Prior to KERV, Bill spent 10 years at Nexstar (Previously Lin Digital and Red McCombs Media). Bill’s intrinsic creativity and exposure to so many specialties within the Media landscape has allowed him to grow into the role he feels he was meant for: leading Creative Strategy and Design.

    Grant Gorton
    VP, UX & Design

    As KERV.ai’s VP of UX/UI & Design, Grant Gorton brings over 20 years of experience in design and creative direction. Before joining KERV, he specialized in packaging and branding design in Pittsburgh, PA. He then returned to his hometown of Austin, transitioning into digital media, where he built and managed a team of designers focused on creating custom rich media ad units, developing new products, and supporting branding and pitch materials.

    Since joining KERV in 2018, Grant has played a pivotal role in shaping the company’s trajectory by establishing and leading a team responsible for its branding and visual identity, event and social marketing, and web design. His team also developed KERV’s sales and marketing materials, spec documentation, and significantly contributed to the creation and design of the company’s comprehensive product offerings. 

    Currently, Grant primarily focuses on KERV’s higher-level platform products, developing intuitive user experiences and innovative solutions that enable clients to unlock new opportunities and extract greater value from their extensive content and data collections.

    Michael Fleischman
    Chief Financial Officer

    Michael is currently the CFO of KERV Interactive in addition to being an Executive in Residence at Progress Partners, a Merchant Investment Bank and Venture Fund. A seasoned C-Suite executive with a broad array of expertise in Accounting, Financial Planning, M&A, Board Governance and External Commercial Banking and Private Equity Relationships.

    Prior to KERV Interactive Michael was the CFO and current Board Member at Digital Remedy, a privately held media execution company supporting agencies, publishers, and brands in navigating the complex ad tech landscape of digital success.

    Prior to Digital Remedy Michael spent 20 years at Cablevision and Rainbow Media Holdings
    during which he was instrumental in the launch and management of multiple Regional sports networks and a number of National Cable Networks including American Movie Classics (AMC), Bravo, The Independent Film Channel as well as the structuring of partnerships with companies including Liberty Media, NBC, Fox/NewsCorp, and MGM.

    Additionally, Michael played lead finance role in the acquisition of a number of professional sports teams including Madison Square Garden, the successful IPO of Cablevision, and a tracking stock at Rainbow Media. Michael was also involved in the creation and successful launch of Rainbow Advertising Sales, one of the cable industry’s first local advertising sales rep firms and has married his linear experience with a robust understanding of the intricacies of new media, creating a unique skill-set.

    A native of the New York City area, Michael resides with his wife where he enjoys biking, tennis and spending time with his wife and three adult children.

    Taylor Pate
    Chief Technology Officer

    Taylor Pate is the CTO at KERV Interactive, with over 16 years of experience in the advertising and creative industry, known among his peers as a technical and creative powerhouse.

    Taylor’s career began in 2008 as an animator and art director, specializing in the design and production of interactive art. He created 3D illustrations for advertisers such as HP and Dell, and developed 3D animations and tools for top video game series including Club Penguin and The Sims.

    Transitioning to focus on automation, e-commerce, and software development, Taylor joined LIN Digital in Austin, Texas. Over five years, he built a powerful framework to automate the production of thousands of rich media ads annually, developed high-performance ads for major brands, and led the engineering of PHNX, the company’s order management system that processed millions of dollars in ad campaigns monthly. He concluded his tenure at Nexstar Digital as Director of Engineering, leading a team of over 16 engineers and product managers before taking on his current role at KERV Interactive.

    Jay Wolff
    Chief Revenue Officer

    Jay Wolff is currently the Chief Revenue Officer at KERV Interactive, leading global revenue and partnerships. In addition to KERV, Jay is the President of 212NYC, New York’s leading organization for the digital advertising and the media industry. 212NYC’s mission is to build a better advertising industry by providing the programming, tools, and thought leadership to help move the industry forward.

    Jay’s expertise in scaling significant revenue and partner growth in the advertising industry spans 20 years. Most recently, Jay served as Chief Revenue Officer of Varick Media, and Chief Growth Officer at Boostr, the first end-to-end SaaS revenue management system for media companies. Previously, as Regional Vice President of SambaTV, Wolff built the revenue organization and east coast market from the ground up to $100M in revenue. Jay has been tapped for industry thought leadership and panel participation by the likes of Mediapost, Ad Age, and Digiday. 

    Prior to joining SambaTV, Wolff served as Vice President of agency and brand partnerships at PulsePoint; instrumental to the merger of ContextWeb and Datran Media.

    Originally from Armonk, NY, Jay holds a BS in Marketing from Syracuse University and a Certificate of Management from the University of Chicago. Jay resides in Rye Brook, NY with his wife, darling daughter, Olivia, and newborn son, Logan.

    Dan Bienenfeld
    President

    Dan Bienenfeld is currently the Co-Founder and President of KERV Interactive and a seasoned serial entrepreneur who has built startups for more than 35 years. Before joining KERV he has founded seven startups and architected successful exits for a number of them. For four years, he served as CEO of TimeCard Specialists, which created a cutting-edge time attendance software app that streamlined payroll for union members in the TV, film, and commercial industries. TimeCard Specialists was sold in 2016.

    Before that, he was CEO of Total Vision Care for nearly eight years. Total Vision Care built one of the largest mobile diagnostic services in eye care. This service provided ophthalmologists & optometrists with state of the art equipment and licensed technicians right in their own practice to diagnose various eye diseases.

    Gary Mittman
    Chief Executive Officer

    Gary Mittman is currently the Co-Founder and CEO of KERV Interactive and brings more than 30 years in technology and direct marketing, as well as substantial experience in building startups to exit with creativity and agile development. Before joining KERV he held numerous top-ranking leadership roles; Founder & President of Nami Media (which was acquired by Lin/Nexstar Media Group), CEO & Founder of Marina Communications (also acquired), and Vice President of New Business Development – Direct Response at Western International Media leading the team in the new frontier of Infomercials.

    Gary brings a decade of experience in the entertainment industry, including managing all tier one acts booking for New York City’s premiere performance nightclub “The Ritz” as its Executive Manager and Booking Agent, Executive Producer of the first MTV concert series “Live At The Ritz”, a Professional Manager at Chappell Music Publishing, and started out as an Assistant to legendary Clive Davis at Arista Records.

    Andi Fenster
    CPO

    Andi Fenster went into the profession of Human Resources 30 years ago, because she believed from a young age that the way you treat your employees is what you get out of them. Her goal as an HR professional has been to help create the type of work environments that inspire folks to want to come to work. She is also a Management/Leadership/Career Coach and her focus is optimizing humans focusing on the mind‑body connection. 

    “We, each, have tremendous potential and the abilities to level‑up if we choose to understand how to get the support we need to get us there. Helping talent thrive and helping them create success is my reason for doing what I do.”

    Marika Roque
    Chief Innovation Officer

    Marika Roque is currently in her second year as the Chief Innovation Officer at KERV Interactive, following four years as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. She is recognized for her expertise in digital media, data, and organizational infrastructures, with over 15 years of professional leadership experience. Prior to joining KERV, Marika worked as the Vice President of Digital Operations for Mass², a division of the multi-billion-dollar corporation Nexstar Digital LLC. Before that, she served as Vice President of Digital Media & Activation at LIN Digital and Nexstar, leading several departments while advising leadership on digital strategy during multiple acquisitions, including Media General, LKQD, Yashi, Dedicated Media, Federated Media, etc..

    Marika has held senior-level positions with leading agency and digital technology teams in Austin, Texas, including Sizmek and GSD&M, a subsidiary of the Omnicom Group. She also spent several years in Chicago working for FCB Global and Starcom MediaVest Group, a division of the Publicis Groupe. At Starcom, she played a key role in creating the first agency-side programmatic pipelines, contributing to what the industry now refers to as an agency trading desk. Her extensive experience in programmatic advertising dates back to its inception. She also worked on global client strategy and activation for brands like Newell Rubbermaid and their subsidiaries, including Paper Mate and Sharpie, as well as Microsoft B2B. 

    Marika holds a bachelor’s degree in advertising from The University of Texas at Austin, where she was also a Division I collegiate athlete. Hook ’em.