Advertising Technology Executive Byron Ellis Joins Spongecell as CTO

NEW YORK, May 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Spongecell, a creative technology company that transforms standard online ads into dynamic, interactive experiences, announced today the appointment of industry executive Byron Ellis to the position of Chief Technology Officer.

Mr. Ellis was most recently the Chief Data Scientist for LivePerson, a company that helps businesses conduct meaningful conversations with customers through online engagements such as chat. He also held various leadership positions with the online ad exchange AdBrite, eventually serving as the company's CTO. During his time at AdBrite he drove many key initiatives including the creation of an intelligent visualization interface for advertisers, publishers, and partners and a next-generation yield optimization capability.

"Byron possesses an incredible background in statistics, data analysis and cloud computing, as well as a thorough understanding of the industry and proven strategic vision, and we are very pleased to have him join the senior executive team," said Ben Kartzman, CEO of Spongecell. "Under his guidance we anticipate further enhancements to our data infrastructure, which will help ensure that our clients can continue to build engaging, dynamic creative using the most robust, easy-to-use tools on the market."

Mr. Ellis holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in Cybernetics from UCLA and a PhD in Statistics from Harvard University, where he was a Presidential Instructional Technology Fellow.  He served as an Exchange Scholar in Statistics at Stanford University, and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine, where he focused on analyzing complex flow cytometry experiments.

Spongecell was ranked as the 27^th fastest growing company in the United States on the 2012 Inc. 500 list with a 6,316% three-year growth rate and was recently named one of the IAB's Digital Video Rising Stars. To learn more about Spongecell, visit www.spongecell.com.

About Spongecell:
Spongecell is an award-winning advertising technology company that transforms standard ads into dynamic, interactive ad experiences that run anywhere on the web.  Spongecell's data-driven ad solutions help brand advertisers and their creative and media agencies deliver more effective video and display campaigns and better analyze consumer engagement. An independent, privately owned company, Spongecell is headquartered in New York City and has offices in San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and London For more information about Spongecell, please visit www.spongecell.com, or Follow Us on our Blog (blog.spongecell.com), Twitter (www.twitter.com/spongecell), and Facebook (www.facebook.com/Spongecell).

SOURCE Spongecell