The Mobile Marketing Association has announced its 2009 North American Board of Directors, with a noticeable increase in the representation of mobile advertising specialists.

The MMA Board of Directors will provide leadership and strategic guidance for the association and its continued growth and support of its members. Some of the key focus areas for the Board this year will be on accelerating the growth the mobile marketing and advertising through major initiatives on the protection of consumer privacy and mobile measurement and metrics.

"The MMA global and regional board members work together with the MMA staff to oversee and guide the Mobile Marketing Association and its industry initiatives, continuing to foster region-wide leadership on the key issues that affect the industry such as metrics and measurement and the protection of consumer privacy," said Mike Wehrs, president/CEO of the MMA, New York.

"Through these initiatives, consumers can interact with and enjoy the mobile marketing experience in a trusted manner, and discover the possibilities that mobile marketing offers," he said.

So what major initiatives regarding the protection of consumer privacy and mobile measurement and metrics will the MMA enact?

"As always, the Consumer Best Practices (CBP) document remains on of the most important for the MMA, especially in North America," Mr. Wehrs said. "It ensures consumer protection while also providing a way for the mobile marketing channel to do business.

"The MMA's CBP document is updated twice a year, and the board is a part of a broader group that discusses new topics and guidelines that should be included in each revision," he said. "The MMA goal here is to align members and industry stakeholders with consumer needs to ensure a positive mobile experience."

The MMA is the premier global non-profit trade association established to lead the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technologies.

The MMA is an action-oriented organization designed to clear obstacles to market development, establish mobile media guidelines and best practices for sustainable growth and evangelize the use of the mobile channel.

The 700-plus member companies, representing more than forty countries worldwide, include all members of the mobile media ecosystem.

The maturation of mobile marketing over the past year has contributed to the growth to the MMA, which now has a total of four regional offices worldwide in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America.

For the remainder of 2009 and beyond, the MMA will work with its Board of Directors and its member companies to lead the way in championing consumer best practices and global mobile advertising guidelines to the industry at-large.

The Board of Directors for North America includes the following elected, sustaining and honorary members:

? Michael Becker, vice president of mobile strategies for iLoop Mobile Inc.
? Jordan Berman, executive director of media innovation for AT&T - Converged Services
? Tom Daly, group manager of strategy and planning for the Coca-Cola Co.
? Venetia Espinoza, group manager of mobile applications and partner programs for T-Mobile USA
? Jeffrey Glass, partner with Bain Capital Ventures
? Louis Gump, vice president of mobile for the Weather Channel Interactive
? David Katz, vice president of mobile advertising and publisher services for Yahoo
? Nick MacIlveen, senior director of strategic corporate development and industry relations for OpenMarket
? Maria Mandel, senior partner/executive director of digital innovation for Ogilvy
? David Oberholzer, vice president of corporate development for Brightkite
? Diana Pouliot, director of mobile advertising for Google
? Jack Philbin, cofounder/president of Vibes Media
? Julia Resnick, vice president of mobile media solutions for the Nielsen Co.
? Lisa-Anne Uhrmacher, general manager of mobile advertising for Sprint-Nextel
? Richard Williams, executive director of digital media operations for Verizon
? Paul Palmieri, president/CEO of Millennial Media

The MMA Board focuses on a few key areas:

1) Strategic Insight and Input - What is the MMA working on and are those the right things and are they at the right priority level.

2) Fiduciary Involvement - Whether in terms of budget reviews, allocation or audit, ensure that the MMA is spending what it should on the things that are most important.

3) Membership - Ensuring that the members needs are being met and that the organization is growing in membership and capability to serve the membership effectively.

The MMA's next North American event for mobile marketing, the Mobile Marketing Forum, will be held June 2-3 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York.

While the new MMA board has yet to meet to come up with combined objectives, one board member believes that there will be more of a focus on mobile advertising, as opposed to short-code marketing.

"There is a bit of a shift with the MMA board members who've been elected from mobile marketing companies focused on SMS short codes to what is now a 70-30 split of board members focused on mobile advertising," Paul Palmieri, CEO of Millennial Media Inc., Baltimore, MD. "The change of focus to the realm of mobile advertising will help to sustain, but at a much lower lever of effort, the premium SMS industry.

"We need to focus on advertising metrics, measuring reach and audiences, so I was pleased to see Julia Resnick from Nielsen elected to board, because that organization and others like it will play a critical role in helping the mobile industry to continue the growth it's already seen," he said.

Mr. Palmieri believes that there is an overlap in the mission of the MMA with several other associations, including the IAB and CTIA.

"Several of the new MMA board members are also involved in those other organizations, and cross-association collaborations are also something the industry needs," Mr. Palmieri said. "With the recent activities of the FTC, privacy is an area that will be a hot topic, and as more and more handsets begin to carry common operating systems as the market grows, we need to come to an agreement on creative standards around rich media.

"The ecosystem centered around short code administration and the mobile operators' approval of text-based campaigns has drawn most of the focus of the MMA organization over the past five years," he said. "The association has focused on evangelizing for SMS short codes and best practices for how consumers should be treated as far as opt in and opt out.

"However, I think the association is ready to move in direction of the next frontier, which is mobile advertising."

Wenda Harris Millard joins Millennial Media's Board of Directors
Mobile advertising network Millennial Media has announced that Wenda Harris Millard, president of Media Link LLC, which provides strategic advisory services for companies involved in media, entertainment, marketing and advertising, has joined the company's Board of Directors.

As a member of the Millennial Media Board of Directors, Ms. Millard will leverage her expertise in the digital advertising industry to provide guidance on the company's strategic direction and expansion plans.

Before Media Link, Ms. Millard served as co-CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, where she oversaw the company's publishing, Internet and broadcasting divisions.

At MSLO, Ms. Millard drove the company's creation of cross-platform programs for marketers in TV, digital, magazines and radio.

Prior to MSLO, Ms. Millard held positions including Chief Sales Officer at Yahoo, Chief Internet Officer at Ziff-Davis Media and Executive Vice President and co-founder of DoubleClick.

"I joined Millennial Media's board because I am a lover of brands, and Millennial has a great understanding of what brands need in the mobile space," Ms. Millard said. "They're very focused on their advertisers, very in tune with what brand advertisers really need.

"So many people focus on technology for the sake of technology, but the advertiser is the one who has the money -- it's really about them, while technology is just a facilitator," she said. "Millennial has that focus, and they're using all the arrows in their quiver, segmenting audiences, planning media and selling it like good brand advertising is sold, which is very attractive to me.

"I look forward to helping my colleagues here, working hard to understand how to scale mobile advertising -- we need to work together to make it happen."