Management Team

Brian O'Kelley, CEO and Cofounder

Brian O'Kelley is best known for creating the first successful online ad exchange as CTO of Right Media (acquired by Yahoo for $850MM in July 2007). Brian's entrepreneurial career began in high school selling computers out of a friend's garage. At Princeton, he started a web design firm, building an open-source e-commerce engine used by more than 100 companies. After graduating in 1999, Brian was CEO of Netamorphosis, an early social networking and e-commerce site for events and venues, and spent time at LogicSpan, Cetova, Poindexter Systems before joining Right Media in 2003.

Mike Nolet, CTO and Cofounder

As Director of Analytics and a product manager at Right Media, Mike Nolet designed and managed key applications including predictive optimization, inventory forecasting, and Media Guard. He worked with clients Yahoo, MySpace, CPX Interactive, and others to leverage the Right Media Exchange for maximum benefit. Mike's insight into the intersection between business needs and technology innovation began at 15, when he sold his first software application, and continued at Princeton University, where he studied Economics. He has used that insight as a cofounder and CTO of AppNexus, where he is the core architect and manager of a cloud hosting platform that combines a enterprise-quality equipment and service, with powerful but simple-to-use technical tools.

Helena May, COO

Helena has a proven track record in planning and operationalizing complex business and technology platforms — from sophisticated trading platforms for capital markets to ROI-driven marketing and sales services. Prior to joining AppNexus, she was the Founder of Taurion, Inc, a straight-through processing platform for asset securitization, enabling financial institutions to structure, trade, and service asset backed securities. Helena was also a founder of Adjoined Consulting (LogicSpan), an innovative consulting firm delivering customer management, working capital, and supply chain solutions to financial services companies. Adjoined was purchased by Kanbay International and is now part of CapGemni. Previously to cofounding Adjoined, Helena was a Senior Manager at Accenture in the Capital Markets practice, where she consistently planned and delivered complex, mission critical solutions for numerous Fortune and Global 100 companies such as American Express, CitiGroup, JPMorganChase, Merrill Lynch, United Technologies, and AT&T.

Investors

In addition to its strong management team, AppNexus is backed by an outstanding group of investors, including Khosla Ventures, First Round Capital, Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and Ron Conway.