Kerel Cooper is an award-winning executive with 20+ years of digital media experience in building advertising operations, account management, and marketing teams. Kerel is the Chief Marketing Officer at GumGum, a contextual-first, global digital advertising platform that captures people’s attention without personal data. Kerel leads all marketing activities that help evolve the brand, increasing revenue, awareness, and relevance amongst target audiences.Before joining GumGum, Kerel was the President of Advertising at Group Black, a pioneering Black-owned media company dedicated to connecting brands with diverse audiences. There, he led revenue operations, client services, and insights teams. Kerel was also the Chief Marketing Officer at LiveIntent, one of Business Insider’s hottest tech companies, for two years in a row (2019, 2020). Kerel is the co-founder and co-host of the Minority Report Podcast, highlighting people of color, women & LGBTQ+ leaders within business, media, and technology. He is also an Advisor to Dandi, a people analytics company, VR PERSPECTIVES, which leverages virtual reality to train organizations on conscious inclusion, and Media Tradecraft, which helps publishers optimize their website monetization efforts.As part of his passion for mentorship and education, Kerel is an adjunct professor at Kean University, teaching digital and sports marketing. Kerel has been widely recognized for his leadership and innovation and was a 2013 ADVANCE Visibility Most Valuable Player Award winner for product innovation. In 2021, Kerel was included in Crain's New York Business Notable Black Leaders and Executives list and was selected as the Adweek Readers’ Choice: Best of Tech Diversity Advocate of the Year award. He also won the Diversity Advocate of the Year Award at the Campaign Tech Awards and the Award of Excellence by the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts in 2021.Kerel has a Bachelor’s degree in Management Science/Marketing from Kean University, an MBA from Regis University, and a Diversity & Inclusion Certification from Cornell University.