CONWAY, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Acxiom® (Nasdaq: ACXM), the data foundation for the world's best marketers, today announced the appointments of James Arra and Anneka Gupta as co-presidents of LiveRamp®, reporting directly to Acxiom CEO Scott Howe. Arra and Gupta succeed Travis May who is transitioning to the newly created role of Chief Growth Officer for Acxiom. In this cross-divisional role, May will oversee Acxiom’s growth strategy and support the Company’s product development and business development efforts, reporting directly to Howe. In addition to his new responsibilities, May will dedicate a portion of his time to an outside business venture. These changes are effective immediately.
Over the last several years, LiveRamp has established itself as the leading provider of omnichannel identity resolution for the digital marketing ecosystem. As co-president, Arra will lead the go-to-market strategy for LiveRamp’s client verticals: brands, agencies, data providers, platforms and publishers. Gupta will oversee the product, engineering, marketing and general and administrative functions. Both will focus on expanding LiveRamp’s market reach and addressing broader market opportunities. These appointments acknowledge the previous accomplishments of Arra and Gupta as they drive LiveRamp’s future growth.
“Travis May has been an outstanding leader and deserves a lot of credit for all he has accomplished as co-founder and president of LiveRamp,” said Acxiom CEO Scott Howe. “Under his leadership, LiveRamp transformed itself from a pioneer in data onboarding to a leader in identity resolution at the center of much of the innovation taking place in the marketing space today. I look forward to working more closely with Travis to identify future growth opportunities across the broader Acxiom portfolio.”
“At the same time, I am very excited to announce the appointments of James Arra and Anneka Gupta as co-presidents of LiveRamp,” continued Howe. “James and Anneka are proven leaders with strong track records of innovation and business success. They are the natural successors to lead this business, and I am confident in their ability to drive LiveRamp forward.”
“I am incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished over the past three years since LiveRamp was acquired by Acxiom: assembling a world-class team, creating an unrivaled network of clients and partners, and building one of the fastest growing SaaS businesses,” said May. “This transition takes place at a time when LiveRamp is leading from a position of strength and is well-poised to unlock its next leg of growth. Our foundations are solid, we remain committed to our clients, and our optimism for the future has never been higher. James and Anneka are true leaders and entrepreneurs and have earned the respect of LiveRamp employees, clients and partners. They have been instrumental to LiveRamp’s success, and I am confident that, together, they will take the business to the next level.”
“In my new role as Chief Growth Officer, I am extremely excited about the impact I can have across all of Acxiom,” continued May. “It is a new chapter for Acxiom, and we are well-positioned to transform the industry. I look forward to working with leaders across the organization to execute on key partnerships, product innovations and business development opportunities to accelerate growth.”
About James Arra
James Arra has an impressive track record of building high performing teams and driving growth. Since joining LiveRamp in 2013, Arra has held several key leadership roles across the business, most recently serving as its Chief Operating Officer. Before LiveRamp, Arra was Vice President of WW Sales at TRUSTe where he helped grow the company from less than 1,000 customers to more than 6,000 customers in just over three years. Prior to TRUSTe, Arra was in a sales leadership role at Vontu, a data security company that was acquired by Symantec, and before that, he was VP and General Manager at FreeMarkets, a publicly traded SaaS company that merged with Ariba. Arra holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Quantitative Economics and Decision Theory from University of California, San Diego.
About Anneka Gupta
Anneka Gupta is a founding member of the LiveRamp team. During her seven-year tenure with the business, Gupta gained rich experience across a variety of disciplines, including marketing, recruiting, product management and software development. Most recently, Gupta served as LiveRamp’s Chief Product Officer, overseeing product strategy and execution. In 2016, Gupta was recognized as a Top 10 Digital Marketing Innovator by AdAge. She holds a BS in Mathematics and Computational Sciences from Stanford University. In addition, in August 2017, Gupta completed the Executive Program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
About Acxiom
Acxiom provides the data foundation for the world’s best marketers. We enable people-based marketing everywhere through a simple, open approach to connecting systems and data that drives seamless customer experiences and higher ROI. A leader in identity and ethical data use for more than 48 years, Acxiom helps thousands of clients and partners around the globe work together to create a world where all marketing is relevant. Acxiom is a registered trademark of Acxiom Corporation. For more information, visit Acxiom.com.
About LiveRamp
LiveRamp offers brands and the companies they work with identity resolution that is integrated throughout the digital ecosystem, and provides the foundation for omnichannel marketing. IdentityLink transforms the technology platforms used by our clients into people-based marketing channels that improve the relevancy of marketing, and ultimately allow consumers to better connect with the brands and products they love. LiveRamp is an Acxiom company (Nasdaq: ACXM), delivering privacy-safe solutions to market and honoring the best practices of leading associations including the Digital Advertising Alliance's (DAA) ICON and App Choices programs. For more information, visit LiveRamp.com.
