The Interactive Advertising Bureau on Tuesday named David Cohen as president, a position held by Patrick Dolan since 2017.

The move was expected, as the IAB said in December that Dolan would depart in 2020 to pursue “entrepreneurial opportunity.” 

Cohen joins the IAB from MAGNA North America, where he previously held the title of president before departing last July. He will report directly to IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg and will serve as the trade body’s No. 2 executive. 

Although the IAB does many things, ranging from educating members to fielding research, it’s also where the $108 billion-plus ad industry turns to for standards such as the size of a banner ad, what the backend tech of a video player should look like and privacy frameworks for laws like California’s Consumer Privacy Protection Act. 

Cohen's experience and involvement in almost every major IAB-led industry initiative should help him serve the trade well, according to the organization. Most notably, Cohen played key roles in Making Measurement Make Sense, which helped marketers to speak the same language when measuring audiences across areas such as digital video, TV, print and apps, for example. 

Cohen will also work with IAB Tech Lab president Dennis Buchheim in advancing Project ReArc, which aims to drum up collaboration from every facet of the industry in creating standards for identity. Project ReArc is perhaps the IAB’s biggest challenge and is directly tied to Google’s move to remove third-party cookies from its popular Chrome browser in two years. 

“Balancing the complex and sometimes opposing forces inside our industry requires a deep appreciation for the strategic, technical, and public drivers of our ecosystem,” Troy Young, president of Hearst Magazines and chairman of the IAB Board of Directors, said in a statement. “David brings this in spades as an industry pioneer with years of perspective in media agency leadership roles.”