Sarah Wagner's career has given her unique insights into the world of advertising operations.

From her early work as an ad ops strategist for ComicBook.com, to brand- and agency-side work at Envision Healthcare and Fusion92, to serving as Director of Programmatic for Tribune Publishing, she's gotten a 360 degree view of what it takes to effectively run advertising operations.

Today, Sarah is the Lead Revenue Strategist at 10Up, which makes websites and tools for content creators and publishers like Time, ESPN and Adobe.

In this week's episode of Ad Ops All Stars, Sarah shares what she's learned in each of those roles, how technology has changed the field of ad ops, and what future ad ops leaders should do now to build a successful career. 

Jared Collette is Senior Director of Ad Operations at Major League Fishing where he oversees ad and sponsorship product development, digital governance and analytics, ad serving platforms and processes, and email advertising.

Jared was brought in to Major League Fishing when the company wanted to expand its presence from linear TV to digital. He and his team built the ad operations organization, which covers the website, app and livestream properties, from scratch.

In this episode, Jared talks about what it's been like, as a team of two people, to create and run an ad operations department that is mostly direct sold deals, with some programmatic in the mix.

Scott Messer is SVP, Media at Leaf Group where he overseas revenue operations across Leaf Group's Media division and manages a portfolio of 40+ owned and operated, vertical-focused websites.

In his decade plus of work in advertising, Scott has been responsible for third party monetization, revenue operations, vendor management, contract negotiations and advertising technology.

Prior to that, his early career included stints working on feature films, doing business development for National Lampoon, and in development at an investment bank.

In this episode, Scott talks about how his early work in film, comedy and investment banking led him to the world of advertising, why becoming a leader means developing industry relationships and having opinions, what his predictions are for the return to "normal" in the ad ops world post-COVID.

Listen to or watch the full episode, or read the transcript below, to hear Scott's insights.

When it comes to advertising operations, Mark Verone has "been there, done that" across a range of industry leading brands including Gogo, Orbitz and iHeartMedia.

Today, he's a sought after marketing operations and technology advisor on topics relating to streaming entertainment and media apps, marketing vendor management, and performance marketing, just to name a few.

Mark's work supported expansive growth from $235M to $835M over tenure with Gogo, from $685M to $765M at Orbitz, and from $1.5B to $8.9B at Clear Channel (iHeart).

In this episode, Mark shares lessons learned throughout his career, including the traits he looks for in new hires, why he uses agile to manage his teams, and what he's learned about being an effective leader.

WeatherBug Head of Advertising and Ad Operations Ron Duque shares his approach to hiring, managing and mentoring ad ops teams.

Catherine Beattie heads up the ad operations team at Encyclopaedia Brittanica and Merriam-Webster, where she runs a small team that manages the company's 100% programmatic advertising operation.

Prior to Brittanica, Catherine was the Senior Director of Digital Ad Operations for Tronc, and in this interview, she talks about what it was like making the transition from running a large ad ops team that blended both programmatic and direct sales, to a small, all-programmatic team.

From handling complaints from users, to ensuring that your category blocks are consistent with your brand and audience values, Catherine shares her day to day challenges, along with what she looks for in new hires, and what advice she would give to anyone starting out in ad ops today.

Listen to or watch the full episode, or read the transcript below, to hear what Catherine has to say about running a modern ad ops team.

CafeMedia Chief Strategy Officer Paul Bannister talks about his career in advertising and shares his perspective on what it takes to build a career in Ad Ops.