The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has appointed Mike Wehrs as President and Chief Executive Officer of the association, effective immediately. Wehrs replaces Laura Marriott, who announced her resignation last year.
In his previous role as Vice President of Industry Affairs and Evangelism at Nuance Communications, Wehrs was responsible for the companys overall mobile business strategy, product strategy, and industry and public policy. He was also a key member of the mergers and acquisitions team. As President and CEO of the MMA, Wehrs will continue to promote its charter to build a sustainable ecosystem for the mobile marketing industry globally, focusing on delivering benefits to MMA members, establishing guidelines and best practices for future growth, and driving mobile adoption worldwide.
The MMA has grown tremendously in recent years in terms of membership and our geographic footprint, so we needed a person with world-class leadership skills combined with relevant experience and business acumen to continue to drive our success, says MMA Global Chairman and Vice President of Global Alliances at AdMob, Russell Buckley. After an extensive search, we found Mike to be the best person to lead the associations activities going forward. Mike is a proven leader with extensive international executive experience and an established track record within the global mobile industry.
Wehrs has a range of industry association experience, having served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committees for organisations such as CTIA The Wireless Association, Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) and dotMobi Advisory Group, as well as being an active participant as board member or committee chair for many other industry bodies.
Prior to his role at Nuance, Wehrs served as Vice President, Product Management and Global Marketing for AOL-owned Tegic Communications, an AOL company. As the product management visionary for Tegics wireless platform and embedded products, and global marketing group leader, he also served as industry standards and public policy representative within a number of industry bodies. Prior to Tegic Communications, Wehrs worked at Microsoft, where he was responsible for driving industry adoption and business development opportunities in support of many of Microsofts Windows products. During his tenure at Microsoft, Wehrs held various senior roles, working on technology and standards, as well as directing market research and product planning for Microsofts Mobile and Embedded Devices division.
I am honoured and excited to lead the MMA at such an important time in its history, says Wehrs. The mobile channel has been experiencing tremendous growth, and marketers worldwide are embracing mobile marketing as an essential component of their global advertising strategies, capitalizing on its capability to establish a direct link with consumers on a global scale.  I look forward to working together with MMA member companies, (the) MMA Board of Directors and other industry leaders to ensure a vibrant and healthy mobile marketing ecosystem for all.”

We'll have an interview with Mike Wehrs later this afternoon.