The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) named Dave Grimaldi as the trade organization’s new executive vice president of public policy and head of its D.C. office, where he will spearhead the media and marketing association’s lobbying efforts in support of consumer privacy, data security, supply chain safety, advertising taxation, and other major regulatory and legislative issues. Grimaldi, currently director of public affairs for Pandora, will join IAB in January 2016. He will assure that IAB members’ voices are represented before Congress, as well as at key agencies including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

While at Pandora, Grimaldi established the company’s D.C. office, directing its initial legislative and public affairs strategies. Before joining Pandora, Grimaldi served as chief of staff and media legal advisor for the Office of FCC Commissioner (and later Acting Chair) Mignon L. Clyburn.

In Washington, IAB works with a Public Policy Council comprised of 200+ executives from among its 650 member companies. With this leadership group, the trade association has helped build one of the digital industry’s most respected self-regulatory initiatives, the “Your AdChoices” program that ensures consumers control over their data usage in interest-based advertising environments. IAB has also built a strong voice for the digital advertising industry in the nation’s capitol, advocating for governmental policies that support growth and innovation across the ecosystem. IAB has been instrumental in shaping new laws and regulations around consumer protection, government access to data, protecting intellectual property, and advertising disclosures. The organization’s efforts have successfully thwarted several ill-conceived policy proposals, including widespread cookie blocking by browsers, European-styled data restrictions, and “Do Not Track,” which would have severely limited the way responsible publishers operate.

In addition, IAB announced that it was promoting Brad Weltman to the position of vice president for public policy in the association’s Washington office. During his tenure at IAB, he has served as the organization’s chief lobbyist and as a broad spectrum privacy and technology expert in Washington. Before joining IAB in 2014, he spent seven years as vice president for government affairs at MPA – The Association of Magazine Media.