In many cases, ad ops is an under-appreciated part of a publisher's business.

Melissa Chapman is on a mission to change that by lifting up ad ops professionals and helping them communicate the strategic nature of what they do.

As the founder of Part Two Consulting and a Collaborator at Beeler.Tech, Melissa advises publishers on building out their ad ops teams and brings ad ops pros together via the Beeler.Tech community to learn, share best practices, and support each other.

Listen to or watch the full episode, or read the transcript below, to hear Melissa's story.

LiveIntent CMO Kerel Cooper didn't start his career out in marketing.

Following stints in ad operations at companies including Earthweb, JupterMedia and Advance Digital, he moved on to LiveIntent where his career has evolved from platform development, to account management, product marketing, and now Chief Marketing Officer.

On this week's episode of Ad Ops All Stars, he talks about making the transition from ad ops to marketing, and shares advice for anyone considering doing the same.

TechTarget Director of Brand Operations Heather Lemon didn't start out in ad operations. Instead, she got a degree in graphic design (at just 17!) and then went on to get a certificate in front and back end programming. Initially, that led her to work as a web designer for a real estate company. Soon after, she took a job as an ad trafficker at TechTarget.

That was back in 2010. Today, she is still at TechTarget, but has risen through the ranks to the role of Director of Brand Operations. In that capacity, she oversees a team of 8 and has navigated tremendous growth at the company - including 3 acquisitions in just the last few years.

Today, Heather is focused on making her team more efficient through the implementation of robotic process automation (RPA). 

In this episode of Ad Ops All Stars, Heather shares her career story and offers advice on everything from managing major organizational change, to mentoring younger team members and the benefits of building repeatable processes.

Michael Bendell's ad ops career spans an impressive list of large media brands (Federated Media, MTV, BlogHer/SHE Media, etc.), as well as niche players like This Old House and Ebony.

Today, he's leveraging what he learned through those experiences to provide consulting advice to media companies.

In this episode of Ad Ops All Stars, Michael talks about what it was like from working in ad ops at large brands with big teams and plenty of support, to running ad ops for This Old House, where he had to dig in and do a lot of the work on his own.

He also shares lessons learned from navigating several mergers and acquisitions, and talks about the challenges of managing rapid change.

In his role of SVP of US Ad operations at Kinesso, Chandon Jones manages an ad ops team of 35+, with members spread across the country. 

This week on Ad Ops All Stars, he shares his advice on hiring for ad ops teams, best practices for management, and what aspiring ad ops leaders should be focused on now in order to set themselves up for success in the future.

When it comes to ad ops, Jade Graves has worked across many different sides of the business.

From his early work as a sales engineer at Burst Media, to working as a sales manager and later manager of ad platforms at Nexage, to his role as director of programmatic sales at Rythym One, and now, as Senior Director of Publisher Business Development at MobileFuse, he's had an opportunity to learn what makes ad ops teams - and media businesses successful. 

Jade's experience has also given him deep insight into the mobile advertising world, including the opportunities and challenges it poses.

This week on Ad Ops All Stars, Jade talks about his career journey and what aspiring ad ops leaders should do to build their skills, along with his take on the top challenges facing the ad ops world today.

With software increasingly moving more in the direction of open source, what does that mean for the future of ad ops?

This week on Ad Ops All Stars, Assembly Director of Advertising Operations Andrew Fowler explains why he believes software engineers are uniquely positioned to thrive in the world of advertising operations, and why publishers have an opportunity to develop new revenue streams by commercializing their homegrown software.

How did Mike Richter overcome adversity to become the Vice President of Global CTV Revenue Operations at Jukin Media? (a role he was just promoted to this week!)

This week on Ad Ops All Stars, Mike shares his incredible career journey, and opens up about the challenges he has faced as a gay, HIV positive man—and why facing those challenges is integral to his success.

This is an honest, raw, and inspiring story that you won't want to miss. And if Mike's personal journey isn't enough to draw you in, he also shares insights into running ad ops for a CTV brand.

How do you go from working in ad operations to serving as Chief Operating Officer for a major media brand?

This week on Ad Ops All Stars, SHE Media Chief Operating Officer Ryan Nathanson talks about his career journey, and how he transitioned from working in ad sales, operations and yield, to COO for first Salon Media Group, and now SHE Media.

This week on Ad Ops All Stars, Timehop and Nimbus VP of Programmatic Product Development David Leviev talks about how his career has evolved from programmatic ad operations to product development for a publisher exchange and in-app mobile.

David didn't originally set out to work in ad ops. He was a psychology major who became fascinated by how advertising works and what motivates people to take action. 

Following stints at Nestle, HBO, NBCUniversal, and PubGears, he began working at Timehop, where the team recognized inefficiencies in the way open marketplace inventory could be monetized. In response, they built a homegrown solution for in-app header bidding which has since been commercialized as Nimbus.

In this episode, David talks about what it was like going from managing ad operations to developing a new product, and why he believes the ability to "unlearn" is a key skill that the ad ops leaders of the future will need to master.