The Blue Ribbon Panel members provide an informed insider’s perspective on the performance marketing network marketplace, together with guidance and input on interpretation of the research results for the BLUE BOOK Best CPA and CPS Affiliate Network rankings.
There is much that goes on in the ad networks world that advertisers and publishers may not be privy to. That’s where the expert panel comes in as just a part of our extensive process. In many cases the panel members have the inside scoop on intangible factors like reputation, and are able to guide us in knowing what to look for. Votes for their own networks are discounted, of course, and they represent only a small proportion of the final scoring. The members of the panel are:
Chris Trayhorn, mThink
Chris Trayhorn is the Chairman of the Performance Marketing Industry Blue Ribbon Panel and the CEO of mThink.com, a leading online and content marketing agency. He has founded four successful marketing companies in London and San Francisco in the last 15 years, and is currently the founder and publisher of Revenue+Performance magazine, the magazine of the performance marketing industry since 2002.
Lily Trevisanut, Digital Media Solutions
Lily Trevisanut is Executive Vice President of Operations for Digital Media Solutions (DMS) She has nearly a decade of experience in the affiliate marketing industry and is responsible for all operations for the affiliate division of DMS. In her role she effectively develops and optimizes high-converting creatives and recruits, vets, monitors and mobilizes quality online publishers — all while ensuring accurate tracking, reporting and quality assurance.
Erin Cigich, Perform[cb] – Affiliate Network
Erin serves as CEO of Perform[cb] overseeing strategic marketing, sales and business development, client relationship management, and new product development. Joining the company in 2007, Mrs. Cigich has provided leadership through every growth phase of the company. Erin has a degree in Advertising from the University of Florida.
Taras Kiseliuk, ClickDealer – Affiliate Network
Taras Kiseliuk’s position as CEO of ClickDealer requires overseeing the global affiliate network’s market strategy and managing international growth. Joining ClickDealer in 2012, he was appointed as General Manager to expand operations in North America, and following a 6-year string of achievements in that role, Taras gained his current position in 2018. Having worked in the performance marketing industry for over 15 years, Taras currently pursues developing new businesses under the GDM Group umbrella and furthering ClickDealer’s expansion.
José M. Chacón, TORO Advertising – Affiliate Network
José M. Chacón is the CEO and founder of TORO Advertising – Affiliate Network. TORO was founded in 2011 and has grown to an international company with offices in Spain and Buenos Aires in less than 7 years. Jose is programmer by profession and marketer by choice. He spends his time managing both the business growth and the technology sides of the business. In his spare time Jose says he tries to play music with his band, “one of the things I like the most.”
Evgenii “Geno” Prussakov, AMNavigator
Evgenii “Geno” Prussakov is an author, blogger, speaker and affiliate marketing consultant He is also founder and chair of Affiliate Management Days conference, and owner of AM Navigator, an affiliate program management and consulting company.
Gus Brito, FlexOffers.com
As Director of Marketing at FlexOffers.com, Gus is responsible for the development and growth of the FlexOffers Affiliate Network. Gus managed the TigerDirect.com affiliate program from its infancy and helped create one of the largest and best run programs on the web. His hard work and dedication has been recognized by his peers and the performance marketing industry with several LinkShare Golden Link Awards. He has 7 Golden Link Awards nominations and is the recipient of Awards for Best Online Merchandising Campaign and Publisher’s Choice in 2007 and LinkShare’ s Golden Link Affiliate Manager of the Year Award in 2010.
Jackie Bates, LinkConnector
Jackie is a zealous marketer with nine years of marketing leadership experience at LinkConnector. She’s been with the company since they opened doors in 2004, loyal to the power of LC’s visionary technology like online attribution and coupon compliance capabilities. As Director of Marketing, she drives PR and marketing strategy for new LC technologies and features and also works directly with key LC customers to maximize their growth using LC’s platform. Jackie has a background and love of all things content, search and social. Offline, she teaches Hot Hatha yoga and loves rough-housing with her two sons.
Matt Frary, Smarter Chaos
Matt Frary is CEO and Founder of SmarterChaos.com, an Internet marketing and sales agency focused on large brands. Matt was a founder of a former top-30 online ad network called ROIRocket.com, and is a frequent speaker at online marketing conferences. As a Mentor at The Founder’s Institute in Denver, CO, Matt enjoys working with start-ups to realize positive ROI quickly and is a passionate and serial entrepreneur.
Matt McEvoy, MaxBounty
For over 12 years, MaxBounty CEO Matt McEvoy has enjoyed being part of the growth and change in the affiliate marketing space. Matt became part of the industry in 2006, when he was brought on board at MaxBounty to increase the network’s roster of advertisers. He quickly moved into the position of Director of Business Development, leading the sales team and becoming an integral part of the network’s day-to-day business as it increased. Today as CEO, Matt guides the ever expanding MaxBounty team as they continue to provide opportunities for affiliates and advertisers to grow and evolve their businesses.
Nicolas Chrétien, CrakRevenue
Nicolas Chrétien is the Founder and President of Crakmedia, a leader in web traffic monetization and online marketing solutions. At the head of Business Development, Nick combines his in-depth understanding of the business with a sense of partnership that brings value to the industry. Driven by performance and results, he has been redefining boundaries in the industry for over 20 years. His vision and passion have led his CPA Network to become the top #5 position in the world. www.crakmedia.com
Paul Tibbit, CJ Affiliate
Paul leads the Business Development team, driving adoption, retention, and utilization of the CJ network across advertisers of all sizes. Prior to CJ, Paul lead sales in North America for Affinnova, helping drive the transformation of the business model from custom projects to software-as-a-service. When Nielsen acquired Affinnova in October of last year, he was selected to head the strategic global accounts team for Nielsen’s Innovation Practice in the US. Paul is a graduate from Clark University, where he earned a BA in Psychology, Magna cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, followed by an MBA focused in Marketing.
Ricky Ahuja, Nutryst
A serial entrepreneur, Ricky Ahuja has been known and well respected in the affiliate industry now going on 15 years, for his strong acumen as an online marketer and social media expert. His former agency Affiliate Crossing was constantly ranked in the Top 10 on the “Top 10 Networks” and was most recently ranked as a Top 10 CPA Affiliate Network on Blue Book survey by Revenue Performance. Ricky is now the Affiliate Director at Nutryst, an all Nutra based network.
Ninfa Cabello, Madrivo
As Director of Business Development, Mrs. Cabello leads the driven, successful and talented team of business development professionals for Madrivo. In the past, Ninfa worked with large brands and managed monthly budgets in excess of $3 million. She helped advertisers capture market share by developing and executing an aggressive advertiser marketing strategy. Ninfa holds a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in International Marketing and a minor in Psychology.
Todd Stearn, Aragon Advertising
Todd is an entrepreneur and digital marketing executive. Since founding Aragon Advertising in 2012, he has gone on to launch LeadSquad and Penny Pincher Media. At Aragon Advertising, Todd has created a global performance marketing company with a diversified portfolio of clients and core business lines. In 2015 Aragon moved aggressively into the Pay Per Call marketing space, quickly becoming a market leader. By focusing on compliance, quality assurance, exclusive traffic, and pioneering technologies such as lead-to-call automation, Aragon continues to create partnerships with major US brands seeking high-value prospects for their business.