IAB chief on leave, interim CEO announced

The head of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), chief trade group for the online ad industry, is taking an leave of absence for several months. The move comes exactly 10 months after Robin Webster was appointed chief executive, just as the market undergoes unprecedented turmoil. The executive board of the IAB appointed longtime ad executive and IAB board member Greg Stuart to replace Webster in her absence.

Stuart, who has worked with such traditional agencies as Young & Rubicam and interactive companies including America Online and Sony Online, plans to continue Webster's charge. As online ad sales have slowed, the IAB under Webster's leadership has pushed to establish new formats for online advertising, create standards to improve the ad buying and selling process, and field new research on the medium's effectiveness.