Over the past 26 years, Doug Weaver has worked with over 700 leading companies including Spotify, Vevo, Samsung Ads, BuzzFeed, Hulu, Viacom, LinkedIn, MIQ, Cars.com, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, NBC Universal, Adobe and The New York Times. For these clients and many others, he’s trained thousands of Internet media and technology sellers through both public and private workshops focusing on sales strategy and digital landscape perspective.
Over the years, Doug has been a frequent moderator, host and keynote speaker at leading conferences produced by the IAB, AdExchanger, iMedia, PubMatic and AdMonsters. For 17 years, he hosted Seller Forum, the industry’s only peer-to-peer networking and content event just for digital sales leaders. And since 2001, he’s authored The Drift, a provocative industry blog that directly reaches more than 7,000 top industry executives and is syndicated and referred to thousands more.
After a 15-year career in print advertising sales with companies like Hearst and Condé Nast, Doug became advertising director and east coast employee number one for Wired Magazine in 1994, and sold some of the Web’s first ads on the company’s Hot Wired site. He then served as vice president of sales for Firefly Network, a pioneering company in personalization, targeting and community.
Doug was elected to the Board of Directors for the Internet (now “Interactive”) Advertising Bureau in 1997 and managed the development of both the IAB Roadshow (the organization’s first omnibus presentation to marketers) and the IAB Professional Development Series (its first seller training initiative.) In 1999, he received the first IAB Service Award for commitment and contribution to the industry; In 2007 Doug received the “Oldtimers Award” from the Aspen Group, a gathering of top digital agencies; In 2011, ad:tech honored him with its Industry Achievement Award for lifetime service; and in 2016, 212 NYC presented Doug with its Thought Leadership Award.
Doug’s company, Upstream Group, Inc. is based in Vermont, where he shares a home his wife and partner of 37 years, Sharon Richards. They have two grown daughters, Lucy & Madeline and two perfect grandchildren named Henry and Lila. Doug is a grateful beneficiary of public education, and a proud graduate of both Long Beach City College and California State University, Fullerton.
