Greg Stuart MMA's new global president and CEO

Stuart will oversee the implementation of the MMA's recent repositioning, which will enhance the MMA's effectiveness at the global, regional and national levels in order to reach its goal of making mobile an indispensable part of the marketing mix.

Stuart was the president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) from 2001 through 2007. During his tenure that organisation's revenue grew more than 500%, its membership rose 10-fold and Internet advertising spend growth from US$6 billion (about R42 billion) annually to more than US$17billion (about R102 billion). Over the past three years, Stuart has served as advisor, director and angel investor to more than a dozen venture-backed companies worldwide.

"Greg is a seasoned leader with hands-on experience in building out new media channels and digital media businesses. This, combined with his clear vision for the mobile industry, and his understanding of the global markets, makes him the ideal CEO to further the MMA's mission of building the mobile marketplace," said Federico Pisani Massamormile, global chairman for the MMA. "His successful track record in galvanising an association and building a new medium, along with his unique understanding of each constituent in our membership will be key for helping global brands and agencies make mobile a critical part of their marketing mix."

Stuart said. "My sense is that the need to evangelise the channel has changed to a need to educate brands and agencies on how to apply the reach and personal and powerful effectiveness of mobile for their brands. The time has come to bring together consumers, global marketers, agencies, the media, technology and carriers to build a best of breed medium in mobile."

Stuart, who will be based in New York, added. "The mobile medium is at a tipping point much like the Internet was a decade ago. There is a definite appetite for mobile now. It is the MMA's role to help all the industry participants understand how the mobile channel can transform their company's bottom line. I invite everyone interested in, or already engaged with, mobile today to get involved with the MMA in this mission."

Stuart will oversee the MMA's global operations. As a global organisation with regional focus and local relevance, his immediate focus will be to work with the members to dramatically increase marketing spend on mobile while helping brands and agencies to be successful; and to support media, technology companies and carriers to develop and prosper from the mobile marketing ecosystem.