Management Team

Dajana is our Data Protection Officer and Head of Legal. She oversees Smaato’s global legal matters and ensures that our technology and operations meet global privacy compliance requirements derived from privacy laws, regulations, and self-regulatory codes. With over a decade of experience in operationalizing data protection and privacy-related laws in international companies, she now leads Smaato’s Privacy Management Program. Dajana also represents Smaato in various IAB working groups, including the Steering Group for the IAB Europe Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) to further develop an industry-standard GDPR compliance tool and the IAB Tech Lab’s CCPA/US Privacy Technical Working Group to standardize CCPA compliance for the ad tech industry. Before joining Smaato, Dajana led the GDPR implementation project for a global MedTech corporation in EMEA and served as the Group Data Protection Officer. Prior to that, she worked as the Deputy Data Protection Officer of a European ecommerce company where she advised on consumer data protection and coordinated the international privacy program. Dajana holds an LL.M. in Information Law with a focus on IT Law and Data Privacy and an LL.B. in Business Law.

Ajitpal is Smaato’s Chief Executive Officer. He is based out of Smaato’s headquarters in San Francisco and oversees global operations with a focus on mobile-first innovation for publishers. Ajitpal has nearly twenty years of experience driving digital advertising and ad monetization technologies during both new and high-growth phases. His previous tenure at Smaato as Chief Business Officer brought product, strategy, and sales together in a close-knit structure creating high growth and a market-leading programmatic mobile technology platform. Before joining Smaato, Ajitpal held leadership roles in sales and product strategy at OpenX, Adify, and DoubleClick.

Georg joined Smaato as the first non-founder in 2006. He now acts as the Chief Operating Officer, leading the company’s Operations, Market Quality, and Sales Engineering teams. During Georg’s tenure at Smaato, he has helped grow the company from less than ten employees in 2006 to over 190 in 2020. As part of this growth, Georg played a crucial role in the global expansion of Smaato’s offices in Singapore and Shanghai. He also played a leading role in launching the Indonesia Mobile Exchange (IMX), Smaato’s joint venture with Indosat. As the leader of Smaato’s Market Quality team, Georg has been key to securing the company’s mobile marketplace, ensuring the highest levels of brand safety and transparency for both advertisers and publishers to provide a safe place to transact mobile advertising campaigns at scale. In addition to building out Smaato’s expert in-house team, Georg has established strategic partnerships with industry-leading vendors for ad fraud detection, prevention, and certification. Prior to Smaato, Georg founded and managed Xplain, an internet and consulting agency company that was later acquired by Pixelpark. Georg studied business administration at Leuphana University in Lüneburg, Germany.

Mohamed leads our supply teams globally. As the head of both the Business Development and Account Management teams, he oversees the acquisition and long-term development of all of Smaato’s publisher relationships. Since first joining Smaato in 2008, Mohamed has held several roles of increasing senior leadership. He has played a key role in driving Smaato’s rapid growth and in helping bring over 90,000 mobile apps onto the Smaato platform. With over a decade of experience in the digital and mobile advertising industries, Mohamed’s personal approach and enduring commitment to the individual success of each partner have been key to his success. Before joining Smaato, Mohamed held positions in Sales and Marketing at HSV-Arena GmbH and Talkline in Hamburg, Germany, as well as Newton Wayman Chong in Melbourne, Australia.

As General Manager, APAC, Phani leads the development and execution of growth strategy and sales for Smaato’s products and business in APAC. He focuses on solving the most pressing challenges at the intersection of product, technology, and strategic value for mobile-first publishers. A business-minded technologist with more than two decades of experience, Phani has held leadership roles in business innovation, sales and marketing, business operations, product management, technology innovation, and engineering. An accomplished innovator and data scientist, Phani is passionate about harnessing the power of applied data intelligence as a force for better experiences and results. Prior to joining Smaato, Phani founded a growing software and consulting company with a focus on product engineering, deep learning, business analytics, and data visualization. Before starting his data consulting business, Phani spent years working for various big five consulting companies as a sought-after senior executive. He successfully led large-scale execution of technology programs that drove quantum cost optimization while modernizing the technology landscape for a number of Fortune 500 clients from New York to London to Mumbai. Phani holds a Master’s of Science degree in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science.

As Head of Product, Michael leads the interface function between business and technology at Smaato. From onboarding new partners to working closely with the Product team in rolling out and building new products at the forefront of the mobile programmatic industry to assisting partners in more effectively and efficiently achieving their day-to-day business goals, Michael leads a team of well-respected programmatic experts. Michael joined Smaato in 2007 as Smaato’s first Product Manager and helped build mobile apps and the original SOMA product as a mediation solution and one of the first mobile advertising products ever. He played a substantial role in building Smaato’s Product team and also turning the original ideas into Smaato’s first RTB exchange. Michael studied computer science and business at FH Wedel in Germany. In his current role, Michael has a strategic focus on driving expansion into new markets such as China and delivering technical efficiency and effectiveness solutions for Smaato’s many global partners on both the advertiser and mobile publisher sides of Smaato’s global mobile marketplace.

Juan leads our demand teams globally. He is focused on providing remarkable customer service and strives to be each of our clients’ most valued business partner. Juan also plays a vital role in conducting quarterly business reviews with clients, developing and improving processes via discrepancy and optimization analyses, and mentoring Smaato’s regional demand teams. With over a decade of digital advertising experience, Juan had an immediate impact on the revenue contribution of Smaato’s existing relationships upon starting at the company in 2017, helping to develop methodical and repeatable processes with outstanding attention to detail and cooperation across all functions and regions. Prior to joining Smaato, Juan was responsible for Display Advertising for Pepperjam’s agency business, where he worked with clients such as Sallie Mae, Kate Spade, and Calvin Klein. Juan also led the Pre-Sales Planning team for the eBay Audience Platform and served as a Digital Director at MEC on the AT&T account, driving an evolution in their mobile media tracking and spending. Juan holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing Communications from Johnson & Wales University.

As Head of Programmatic Strategy, Umair is focused on identifying and executing new optimization opportunities. Umair has worked in the ad tech industry since 2010 during which he has developed a deep understanding of the programmatic landscape. Prior to joining Smaato, Umair worked at IDG where he increased revenues by applying optimization techniques to improve the CPM of their inventory. He also previously worked at LiftDNA (since acquired by OpenX), where he participated in the creation of header bidding technology and built optimization methods that resulted in publisher revenue increases of 20-70%. Since joining Smaato in 2014, Umair has played a key role in the continued evolution of Smaato’s global business, contributing to all regions and channels of revenue. His instincts and experience in programmatic strategy and optimization have resulted in consistent revenue growth. Umair holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the West Chester University of Pennsylvania.

As Head of Global HR, Emily leads strategic global HR initiatives and connects Smaato’s employees around the world. Emily’s knowledge of Smaato and her ability to bring people together with a positive and collaborative approach help merge the company’s diverse cultures and regions to create dynamic and innovative outcomes. Since joining in 2015, Emily has successfully spearheaded the growth and development of Smaato’s HR and office teams and helped navigate company acquisitions and post-merger integrations. Emily has a background in building and expanding teams and the HR function in high-growth environments across biotechnology, renewables, real estate, and manufacturing. Emily graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of San Diego with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration.