Californian affiliate tech group Impact Radius has announced ‘martech veteran’ David Yovanno as new chief executive.

Formerly CEO for SaaS company Marin Software, Impact Radius called Yovanno a “seasoned media and technology specialist”.

His predecessor, Per Petterson, has served as CEO since co-founding the company in 2008, and assumes the role of executive chairman and chief strategy officer, where he’ll continue to shape Impact Radius’ “vision and product strategy”.

Yovanno and Pettersen aren’t unknown to each other – they both served at Conversant under its former name ValueClick – and according to the former CEO, the two had been “talking for months” about the move, before deciding that it “just made sense”.

Pettersen said he was “thrilled” by the appointment and the opportunity to “work together again”.

“Dave is a dynamic, results-oriented leader with deep operational expertise and a proven track record of growing companies through key phases of fiscal development,” he commented. “With our aggressive product roadmap, an increasing depth of product offerings and our rapid global expansion, I needed to free my time to continue innovating for our customers.”

Growth trajectory

The announcement comes not long after Impact Radius rolled out a publisher discovery tool which would allow its advertiser clients to tap into a database of 800,000 affiliate websites, over half of which are outside its own US market – a result of the acquisition of 5IQ.

Meanwhile, last year’s acquisition of Forensiq made Impact Radius the first company to combine algorithmic attribution with ad fraud detection, providing clients with “unpolluted” insights into their media spend.

“I’m honoured to be joining such a talented team,” commented Yovanno, calling the period a “crucial moment” for the company’s growth trajectory.

In addition to heading up Marin Software, Yovanno’s resume includes leadership roles at Conversant and Gigya, in addition to three years spent on the board of North America’s Interactive Advertising Bureau.

“I believe I can help accelerate the company’s vision of global expansion by investing in people, infrastructure, partnerships and acquisitions,” he said.