In this blog post, I asked the two nominees for Chair of the ADM a few questions. Here are Chris’ responses:

Why are you running for this top leadership position?

ADM is in a development stage that I would characterize as its delicate infancy. Essentially what you have is a group of motivated, talented individuals from a wide swath of the new media landscape, who all want to work together to advance this growing downloadable media industry. I am running for the leadership position to provide what ADM needs most right now, which is a structured, collaborative role that channels our collective strengths and interest into measurable results. I have a good deal of operational experience I hope to bring to bear on the position. Also as both a new media publisher and employee of perhaps the largest RSS media distribution company, I think I can articulate and represent the variety of interests that our members share.

What are the three biggest goals you hope to accomplish first?

1. Campaign for the widest amount of individuals and organizations to increase reach through membership.
2. Develop cost-effective initial primary research that best demonstrates our industry’s collective impact.
3. Reach out to peer organizations to ensure we are optimizing our effectiveness through partnership.

What do you think is the least understood element of the ADM’s charter?

Unlike many trade associations that cater to a specific profession or guild, we encourage corporate, publisher, advertiser, measurement and advertising intermediary membership. This is because we are not designed to address only issues surrounding one vertical group. Instead we are combining resources to address the natural but unproductive friction caused when a new disruptive medium offers new choices to more established industry players. ADM exists to facilitate the rapid adoption of primarily advertisement-supported downloadable media. We wish we could provide support to address other unrelated issues facing many of our members, but unfortunately we cannot be all things to all people. We think that this charter is the one we need to tackle now, as a group.

What would you ask of the industry to support you if you get elected?

The reality is that we are all motivated self-interested members, in the best sense of the concept. What I hope to achieve is an increasingly keen understanding of the overlapping patterns of interests represented within our industry. Then it will be less of an exercise in asking for support, and more about channeling outcomes in alignment with pre-existing interests. I don’t expect members to take on initiatives, standards, campaigns, etc. that don’t serve their core objectives. I would however ask interested industry members for a minimum investment in their time to understand where they want to go and how we can help.

Who would you like to have involved in the ADM that is not currently a member and why?

We already have a tremendous member roster that includes top-tier technology, broadcasting, traditional media, radio and television measurement companies, and some of the best new media publishers out there. Could we have more members? You bet. I wish we had even more publishers who want to monetize (as they are the content gatekeepers) and serious representation from the oldest traditional broadcast companies.