Alliance for Audited Media Appoints New CEO

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The Alliance for Audited Media has named Tom Drouillard as its CEO, president, and managing director. Drouillard will begin his new role April 1 following current AAM President Mike Lavery’s retirement on March 31.  

Drouillard, 53, brings more than 25 years of media and marketing experience from many organizations that have collaborated with AAM in recent years. Most recently, Drouillard was president and CEO of Scarborough Research. He was also previously president of the Americas at Nielsen Online and has held executive positions with Claritas, PERQ/HCI, Interactive Market Systems and SRDS. Drouillard, who will be based in AAM’s suburban Chicago headquarters, will oversee the entire organization, including auditing, communications, finance, human resources, IT and marketing in the U.S. and Canada. He will also oversee the Certified Audit of Circulations and AAM’s other subsidiaries.

“Tom is a proven and successful CEO,” said AAM Chairman Sunni Boot, who was part of the group of AAM directors who led the executive search. “His deep understanding of digital media, audience measurement and marketing gives him the knowledge and skills required to take AAM to the next level in its historic role serving the media and advertising industries.”

Drouillard joins AAM as it is celebrating its centennial. The organization was founded in 1914 to bring order to a time of uncertainty. With the emergence of new digital channels and myriad measurement organizations, many of the same issues in media still exist a century later. In recent months, for example, the breadth and cost of digital advertising fraud has been highlighted in the media and called out by the Interactive Advertising Bureau. There will be a growing, urgent need for independent auditing of compliance standards in the coming years. Drouillard — just the eighth president in AAM’s 100 years — is tasked with addressing and building on recent developments to solidify AAM’s position for the next century.

At Scarborough Drouillard implemented a new strategic plan that improved revenue and transformed the organization’s product set, while adding expertise in digital media measurement and cross-platform analytics. During this time AAM and Scarborough collaborated on several programs to provide the U.S. newspaper market with audited cross-platform data. At Nielsen Online Drouillard launched new advertising effectiveness products, integrated social media measurement services and helped transition the company to a more holistic hybrid panel/census market research solution. He worked closely with a range of media, agency and advertiser clients, many of whom were also members of AAM.

“I am honored and humbled to become AAM’s next president and CEO,” Drouillard said. “I know firsthand that AAM is a highly respected, essential organization, synonymous with credibility and accountability. I look forward to working with AAM’s members, board, committees and staff to continue that rich legacy in a new era.”

“I’ve known and respected Tom for many years through his work at Scarborough, Nielsen and SRDS,” said AAM President Mike Lavery. On the eve of his retirement, he added: “I am honored to have worked at such a venerable organization for 27 years and am proud to leave the organization in such capable hands. I know Tom will uphold AAM’s gold standard and excel at continuing our mission of bringing credible, audited media data to the marketplace.”  

Lavery will work closely with Drouillard throughout March before retiring at the end of the month. Lavery has served as president and managing director since 1995. He has been a leader throughout a time of rapid change for both the media industry and the organization. Lavery achieved a list of impressive milestones during his leadership, from centralizing auditors to conduct remote audits to acquiring the Certified Audit of Circulations to launching the Media Intelligence Center.