Debra Aho Williamson speaks at the 2026 IAB Annual Leadership meeting

Written By Debra Aho Williamson

It was an honor to speak onstage at the 30th anniversary meeting of the IAB in Palm Desert, California. I spoke about my new research with IAB, ‘The Ai Ad Gap Widens,” alongside Caroline Giegerich (IAB). Jeremy Flynn (Horizon Media), Jonah Goodheart (Mobian) and Mike McNeeley (Index Exchange).

I loved being back at IAB Annual Leadership Meeting this year because I was there when it was founded. When I was a journalist at Ad Age, I covered the first meetings that IAB’s leaders ever held, and I wrote several articles about the initiatives the team launched to create guardrails and organization for the online ad industry.

Here are some pictures from the 2026 event!

Debra Aho Williamson

Debra Aho Williamson is a dynamic analyst and market influencer known for her ability to spot shifts in consumer behavior that create tectonic changes in marketing strategies. As founder and chief analyst at Sonata Insights, Debra provides research and advisory services to businesses that want to break new ground and lead industry conversations about the transformative impact of AI on marketing and consumer behavior.

https://www.sonatainsights.com/
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