Helen is the Senior Sales Director at LG Ad Solutions, a post she has held since January 2024. Previously she has held roles at Magnite and ESI in a nine-year digital career. We asked her to choose her Digital Hero.
Who is your digital hero?
Steve Wing, formerly Head of EMEA, Rubicon/Magnite now retired
What have they done to win hero status in your eyes?
Steve Wing was an impressive figure as I entered the industry and started to attend Rubicon events to learn more about programmatic. He is extremely eloquent and captivating both 1:1 and at public events, holding a room with his capabilities as a storyteller and a great public speaker.
I then went on to work for him at Rubicon (now Magnite), and he set an example to the UK/EMEA offices as a diligent, hard worker who always made time to help others when needed. He also loved having fun and didn’t take life / work too seriously—whether that was a good weekend anecdote at the Monday morning meetings or parading around the office in an XXL Rubicon onesie.
He led as a real person in a people-first business, always ready to share his own passions (such as hip-hop) and encouraging colleagues to show up as their authentic selves in the workplace. He was a real champion for diversity and equal representation, as well as sharing truly inspiring personal challenges he’d overcome throughout his career, such as coming out as a proud gay man in what was once a very heteronormative media industry
How has their heroism helped drive digital?
Steve was a driving force at Rubicon as one of the first global SSPs, both internally and externally. He promoted the value of programmatic in its infancy, educating and increasing programmatic knowledge within the industry whilst most didn’t know a PMP from a DSP. He was a steady hand as Rubicon underwent its merger with Telaria and acquisition of SpotX to become the Magnite business that we know today.
What are the biggest challenges in digital we need another hero to solve?
The biggest challenge is bridging the perceived gaps between digital and linear TV. This includes finding a unified measurement framework that accounts for their differences while providing comparable metrics that can analyse broadcasters, streaming platforms, FAST providers and OEMs, to offer universal and more person-level metrics that count de-duplicated viewers across platforms.
What is your most heroic personal achievement so far in digital?
I’d say starting my career in digital, and more specifically within programmatic roles in what were, at that time, print-first businesses. What was tough was grappling with digital challenges daily and taking these back to the business, where programmatic revenue was not a priority and sometimes not understood, to educate internal stakeholders about key changes required to set our digital business up for success. But what was rewarding was seeing that grow from being a one-man band into an impactful revenue stream.
