Reinventing NAI
| A blog post by Bruce Morris, NAI’s VP for Member Services & Business Development. |
If you haven’t noticed, NAI has dramatically changed over the past three years. Since I am a relative newcomer to the organization, I thought our org structure and member benefits were always this way. However, it’s been pointed out to me on more than one occasion that we have come a long way.
This was most clearly demonstrated to me during a recent meeting with a seasoned, senior digital exec working on his fourth business platform. Although he was familiar with NAI from our start, he had not kept up with all of our growth and development over the years. His comment after our discussion was “WOW! NAI has really re-invented itself and I’m impressed.”
Pam Dixon, Executive Director of World Privacy Forum, recently remarked, “I think the NAI represents a really important step forward for what self-regulation has been, and certainly that has been such a vast improvement from 2007.”
In case you haven’t noticed, or are not a regular reader of our blog, here’s a sampling of our accomplishments and a look at who were are:
- Over 300% growth in members since 2007
- 10 full-time staff members, including six attorneys and one senior technology analyst
- A new office in the Flatiron District in New York City
- A new Code of Conduct that went into effect January 2014 and a new Mobile Code of Conduct
- A new education section on our website
- A new Board of Directors
- New technical monitoring tools for opt-out links and privacy policies
- Creation of an Annual Member Summit (sold out last two years)
- New annual compliance reports on staff and member activity
During our recently held Annual Member Summit, FTC Commissioner Julie Brill praised the work of NAI and our members, stating that “the NAI has been an exceptional leader in the self-regulatory community.” She further complimented our efforts, affirming that the NAI has taken steps to go beyond legal requirements to be in the self-regulatory space in a way that is incredibly helpful to us as regulators and, I think, to consumers.”
To our members, I hope you are taking advantage of all we have to offer beyond our annual compliance review. To prospective members, NAI offers strong business development and risk mitigation benefits. Contact me to learn how your advertising technology company can become a member, too.
