Brian O’Kelley

Brian O’Kelley is CEO and Co-Founder of AppNexus, the world’s largest independent ad tech company and one of the most successful technology companies in the history of New York. Widely considered a visionary in Internet advertising and heralded as “the new king of ad tech” by Forbes, Brian started AppNexus in 2007 to create a technology platform that would transform the advertising ecosystem.

Immediately prior to founding AppNexus, Brian revolutionized the ad tech industry by inventing the first online ad exchange while he was CTO of Right Media (later sold to Yahoo! for $850 million in 2007). Today, Brian holds numerous additional patents that help AppNexus’ technology power the most innovative trading solutions and marketplaces for Internet advertising, and further the company’s mission to create a better Internet.

Brian is also an active investor in and early-stage advisor to dozens of tech companies, including Invite Media (acquired by Google in 2010), MediaMath, Dstillery and Solve Media. Brian has been honored by Crain’s 40 Under 40, Adweek 50, Silicon Alley 100, and was recognized as an E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year in the New York region in 2012. He holds a BSE in computer science from Princeton University where he is an active alumnus. Brian lives in New York City with his wife and daughter.