People

Abi is responsible for all internal and external communications at ISBA. Her remit is to support and promote the ISBA manifesto through communication with ISBA stakeholders.

Abi joined ISBA in 2017 after spending six years working at DMGT plc as Communications Director. Prior to this she spent 4 years as Head of Marketing for Metro newspaper. She has held a variety of senior marketing and communications roles mainly in the media sector. Abi graduated from the University of Birmingham with a BA Hons in Drama. 

For press enquiries please call Abi on 07917 048835.

In her leadership role at ISBA, Bobi strives to drive industry change on key advertiser challenges. She also leads ISBA's Inclusion Network and works cross industry supporting the diversity, inclusion and equity agenda.  

Prior to ISBA, Bobi led the AV team at the7stars before that Bobi spent her working years in the Tv and Entertainment industry at Sky TV, Viacom and latterly she served as the UK Commercial Director of The Walt Disney Company. 

Bobi serves on a number of industry boards, and non execs roles. 

Clare O’Brien is ISBA's Head of Media Performance and Effectiveness.

At ISBA, Clare’s work as Head of Media focuses around helping advertisers navigate the digital advertising media ecosystem, and advocating for advertisers across areas as diverse as the programmatic supply chain, the ethical deployment of data in throughout the marketing and advertising ecosystem, effectiveness of media and campaign spend, the development of standards in retail media and supporting advertisers in their media skills and knowledge development. 

Prior to her role at ISBA (and before that as Head of Programmes at the IAB), Clare O’Brien was the co-founder of one of the world’s earliest content strategy consultancies, following a career in publishing industry PR and communications. 

Her consultancy work was focused around development of content strategy practice for clients as diverse as The BBC, BP, CIPD, Epson, TUI, P&G, Orange, RBS and Barclays. 

At ISBA, Clare leads industry initiatives around Media Insight & Effectiveness, Programmatic & Performance and Data & Ethics for the UK’s leading advertisers who make up ISBA’s membership. 

Claudia ensures members are aware of the benefits of ISBA membership and represented at our media steering groups, as well as any industry speaker events. Claudia co-leads ISBA's CPD Accredited Media Foundation Certificate alongside our Director of Membership.  In addition, Claudia works with the Communications and HR team to ensure resources are translated into up-to-date content aligned with ISBA style and tone.

As Head of Media, Dan supports ISBA members across a range of ongoing initiatives that are transforming the role of advertisers in shaping the evolving addressable media ecosystem. He will work directly with members to build out fresh strategies providing UK advertisers with leading and advanced resources to help them navigate emerging trends and structures. 

Dan has over 14 years’ experience in advertising and was most recently Chief Strategy Officer at TPA Digital, a specialist consultancy giving impartial advice to brands on data driven digital advertising. Before switching to consultancy, he was a Managing Partner at Infectious Media (now Kepler), which pioneered the use of programmatic advertising in the UK. 

David joined ISBA in June 2019 and is responsible for all aspects of finance and administration including IT, HR and office management. 

Prior to this, David had been working for two years as a consultant advising trade associations on finance and operational matters. This followed 13 years’ experience in the trade association world as Executive Director, Operations at the British Bankers Association and Head of Corporate Services at the Council of Mortgage Lenders. David had previously gained experience across small and large organisations in the IT, telecoms and property sectors.

A fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, David gained a degree in Geography from Durham University.

Deirdre is ISBA’s Accounts Manager, reporting directly to the Financial Director. In her 20 years as part of the team, Deirdre has seen the organisation change and develop, both in terms of address and leadership. With moves from Hertford Street and Langham Place, to our current home in Covent Garden, and having worked under four different DGs, Deirdre has never had a dull moment at ISBA!

She has previous experience working in finance and business management on the agency side and a number of part time roles whilst her children were growing up. When she’s not balancing the books, Deirdre enjoys sailing, languages, gardening and cookery.

Elvira joined ISBA in 1990 and has been working in various roles and is now part of the Communications team. She is responsible for the planning, organisation, administration and delivering all of ISBA’s events, including all the 101 Knowledge sessions, President's lunch and all other online events. She is also helping the Membership team with updates on the CRM.

Elvira went to secondary school in The Netherlands and after completion went to England and the USA to improve her English.

Emma is our Head of Outreach and Engagement. Part of the membership team, she is focused on growing and diversifying our membership base, giving a voice to new categories. Emma is also responsible for looking after new members throughout their first year of membership.

Get in touch with Emma if you want more information on becoming part of the ISBA community or are a new member interested in finding out more about your membership benefits.

Georgia is ISBA's Membership Co-ordinator, helping to maximise all the benefits of membership for our members. She is your first port of call for any queries regarding your membership of ISBA.

Jane heads up the membership team and works with our members to ensure they maximise all the benefits of membership as well as overseeing our training resource for members.

If you would like to find out more about how you can benefit from being part of ISBA, or would like to arrange a presentation for your team to discover more about the full ISBA resource then please get in touch with Jane.

Since 2008 Linda has worked as PA to the Director General and Director of Finance. Key responsibilities are diary management for the Director General, arranging meetings and administration support.

Lorna joins ISBA from the publishing industry with 20 years account management experience agency side.

Lorna was previously Group Client Services Director at The Writer and was responsible for driving commercial growth by developing enduring, profitable client relationships for a number of large organisations.

Prior to this she has held roles at a number of content marketing agencies including Group SJR, Hearst Content Agency and Wardour Communications Ltd.

Mark started at ISBA in 2013 and is responsible for ISBA partnerships and the development of its programme of content for the ISBA membership.

Before joining ISBA, Mark held a number of training and business development roles within the theatre and PR world. He has a Masters in Education from UNSW and a degree in American Studies from Canterbury Christ Church University. 

Nick was previously Senior Procurement Manager (Category Lead) for media across Europe at Sky, a role he held for almost four years. Prior to that he has held roles at TalkTalk (UK) & Kimberly Clark (Australia) both in marketing procurement. He started his career as a wine buyer and wine judge in Australia.

Phil joined ISBA in January, 2017 and heads up the organisation. He’s responsible for ISBA’s strategic direction and its advocacy agenda. He leads the team of ISBA directors and looks after the day to day operation of the business.

Before ISBA, Phil’s career in the UK and Europe has been in marketing, sales and general management, spanning a wide range of industry sectors, from consumer goods to grocery retail and from marketing technology to lottery and games.

Phil holds a BA in Classics from Jesus College, Oxford. 

Rob leads Public Affairs for ISBA – engaging with government, Parliament, policymakers, and regulators to represent our policy positions to external audiences.

He leads our Strategic Policy Action Group, a corporate affairs forum for ISBA members; and our Influencer Marketing Working Group, which developed a Code of Conduct launched in 2021.

A former political adviser and consultant who has worked in Parliament, at think tanks and in the private sector, Rob spent 12 years working for the Labour Party in various guises – for frontbenchers and backbenchers; in government and opposition; in constituencies and in Westminster. He attended Shadow Cabinet meetings as part of its secretariat and worked in the Whips Office.

Subsequently, Rob spent over three years at Edelman, the world’s largest communications agency, supporting clients including FTSE 100 companies and multinationals in the FMCG and tech sectors on their public affairs programmes. He then ran communications and policy for the foreign affairs and defence-focused Henry Jackson Society think tank, before becoming a freelance consultant. He joined ISBA in 2019. 

Sarah Chetta is ISBA's Communications Manager. Prior to ISBA, Sarah spent six years at IAB UK.  She has a degree in Media Studies and English from The University of Winchester.

Sarah looks after all aspects of ISBA's communications as well as the ISBA website.

Steve has spent the last 18 years of his career in the digital advertising industry. 

He’s the Director of Media for ISBA, leading a team delivering industry education, standards, research and shaping and campaigning for effective, responsible industry self-regulation across all media platforms on behalf of marketers. He is also a permanent member of the Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards (JICWEBS) overseeing digital trading standards for the UK including brand safety, viewability and ad fraud. 

Prior to ISBA, Steve spent 5 years as Director of Data & Industry Programmes at the Internet Advertising Bureau in the UK leading a team covering Display, Search & Data, 8 years at Microsoft Advertising leading a variety of account management/client service teams and 4 years as Head of Operations at Agency.com, a leading full service digital marketing agency.

Stuart joined ISBA in July 2021. He has worked in and around British politics for nearly 10 years, having worked in Parliament and for political campaign groups. He is a former political adviser to Chuka Umunna, providing political advice and managing his communications and press engagement during the 2017 and 2019 General Elections and the Brexit referendum. In 2019 he played a senior role in planning and launching The Independent Group of former Labour and Conservative MPs.

Prior to joining ISBA Stuart worked in public affairs at the British Business Bank, building relationships with Ministers, Whitehall, Parliament, and wider stakeholders as the Bank delivered government-backed finance to support UK businesses through the Coronavirus pandemic.

Tom is CEO of Origin with over 25 years of strategic growth, transformation and leadership experience for major media and marketing groups. 

Before Origin, Tom ran Everclear Consulting, advising businesses on strategy, transformation and growth. Prior to this, he was Chief Executive Officer at GroupM UK, the UK’s largest media agency group. During his time there, he consolidated GroupM’s position as the UK’s largest media group with 43% market share and created new business models which diversified revenues in digital and data.

Tom has previously held positions as Chairman UK & Europe for Wavemaker Global and Chief Executive Officer for Wavemaker UK. His non exec roles include Chairman of the IPA Media Futures Group and he is a fellow of the IPA.

Vanessa is the CRM & Systems Manager at ISBA, as well as ISBA's Inclusion Co-lead alongside Bobi Carley. Vanessa manages and maintains the integrity of our data and ensuring that the right people get the right information.

Vanessa graduated from London South Bank University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business IT and worked at an American University before joining ISBA.