Editor's note: This is the fourth of an ongoing series profiling the 2018 SIPAward winners. See the others below.

Kristy Keller, brand director at Access Intelligence, was recently the named the inaugural recipient of SIPA's Andy McLaughlin Rising Star Award. We asked Keller a few questions to get to know her and her work better.

At SIPA Annual 2018, Diane Schwartz, SVP and group publisher, and Greg Dool, senior editor—both from Access Intelligence—led a session titled Pivoting Your Editorial Team to Use Data. Dool graduated from Villanova in 2013 and now writes excellent articles for Folio:. Pairing a younger person with an experienced leader to deliver a session is a great way to showcase and involve young talent. (I will report on this session in the near future.)    The Accounting and Financial Women's Alliance spotlights their young members through Q&A-style interviews, published online in its LEAP Spotlights series. This type of quick-question Q&A—"How did you decide to go into accounting?" "In high school I took an accounting class. Debits and credits just made sense to me!"—is pretty easy to do and enticing to read. Many of their Q&As feature volunteers who serve on AFWA's LEAP Council, which develops programs and initiatives targeted t ...

I can't tell you the number of conversations I've had lately where someone recommends a podcast to me—The Weeds, The Moth, My Favorite Murder, Slate Political Gabfest. And the numbers back this up. According to Nielsen, the number of avid podcast fans has risen from 13 million in the fall of 2016 to 16 million in the same period of 2017 in the U.S.

Welcome New Members

"Your customer may be starting from a point of skepticism. Showing them that others have already taken action can help move along their consideration process... 'Almost sold out' lets people know they need to act fast, while a long list of customers, donors or attendees gives them confidence that others have already taken the leap."

Welcome New Members We are excited to welcome the following new member to the SIPA community: Money-Media Access Intelligence Acquires AdExchanger Access Intelligence has announced the acquisition of AdExchanger, an integrated media and events company focused on digital advertising and marketing, in a move that gives AI a dominant position in the fast-growing programmatic-ad market. The company already owns the AdMonsters brand, a leader in the ad-operations space. By acquiring AdExchanger, Access Intelligence is looking to capitalize on the massive growth of programmatic advertising, expected to grow by 31% in 2017, faster than all other advertising formats. According to Zenith’s Programmatic Marketing Forecasts, programmatic will account for 58% of digital display advertising this year, up from just 13% in 2013. “Our vision is to deliver best-in-class intelligence and connection points for our business communities, and AdExchanger d ...

"UCG found out pretty quickly that the virtual cocktail reception—an oxymoron at best—was not the answer. Their belief that people need to meet in person at events large and small has already paid dividends." I wrote that almost seven years ago after listening to a talk by UCG co-founder Bruce Levenson.

The culture at Access Intelligence embraces collaboration," said Tish Drake, VP and group publisher, aerospace, for Access, during an excellent session on collaborative marketing at the recent Business Information & Media Summit. (Though for her, the better phrase is "team collaboration.")

Get the most important news in healthcare first thing in the morning, every morning for free! —OR a.m. (from OR Manager, an Access Intelligence division)