Shiv Gupta is Managing Partner at U of Digital, which aims to make the digital marketing industry better through credible, digestible, and applicable education. A digital industry veteran, he’s worked at companies including Advertising.com, AOL, and Criteo, and is a guest lecturer at UCLA, UC Davis, Johns Hopkins, and an Adjunct Professor at The Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University.
Who is your digital hero?
Jay Sears, founder of Team Daya.
What has he done to win hero status in your eyes?
Jay and his merry band of adtech executives decided that they wanted to put their time and resources towards a great cause: helping youth in impoverished areas get access to education. Jay and his team travel to countries (like Senegal, which they are going to in a few weeks) and build primary schools from scratch with funds that they have raised
How has his heroism helped drive digital?
Team Daya drives digital forward by being a great example for the rest of the digital ad industry.
They show us that we can all find some time and resources from our busy careers in digital advertising to contribute to society. They demonstrate that digital advertising can be a force for good, which is something the ad industry really needs from a reputational and a self-worth standpoint!
What are the biggest challenges in digital we need another hero to solve?
Our incentives.
As it stands, the incentives in the digital advertising space are not set up in a way that’s conducive to doing the ‘right’ thing, by consumers, by publishers, and advertisers.
We need a hero to solve to make the industry a more efficient, valuable, and positive industry.
What is your most heroic personal achievement so far in digital?
Contributing to the industry in the form of knowledge and education through our efforts at U of Digital, and most importantly, contributing to Team Daya!
