Who We Are
Our Story
As ad tech veterans, our founding team has seen first-hand how advertisers are herded toward one-size-fits-all products, when custom optimization would serve them better. From media agencies' lagging adoption of cloud computing infrastructure, to big tech's opinion that no single advertiser's preferences were "scalable," to the widespread assumption that it’s impossible to compete with the tech giants, we’ve experienced the frustration that comes along with feeling stuck by the status quo.
That frustration turned into a shared passion for finding - and building - a better way. In the spring of 2020, Chalice was born over countless Zoom calls, early morning and late night quarantine workdays, and a belief that if anyone can change “the way it’s always been,” it’s us. Pour one out for the status quo, we say. Ad buying will never be a low-tech, manual job again.
Our Values
Chalice is not your typical ad tech company. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We don’t make empty promises. And we don’t work inside black boxes. We are deeply passionate about building a better future in advertising - transforming the industry to work for people, not platforms.
It’s our philosophy that if you create real value, you can be completely transparent. This philosophy informs how we build our technology, how we approach our customer relationships, and how we shape our team culture. We strive for excellence while fostering learning, we are committed to diversity of thought, background and experience, and we believe more perspectives make for a richer team, offering and company.
Leadership Team
Built by digital advertising experts and backed by industry investors, Chalice brings a track record of ad-tech expertise and just enough intolerance for the status quo to help brands level-up their ad buying strategy.
Adam Heimlich
Chief Executive Officer
You could call Adam the RZA of our team. Just as the visionary members of Wu-Tang Clan transformed the sound and business of hip hop, Adam is pioneering a new future in ad tech.
After leaving a career in music journalism where he interviewed dozens of 90s hip hop artists like RZA himself, Adam dove into the world of Internet marketing, paving the way for programmatic as we know it today. During his 20+ year tenure in ad tech, Adam built the search performance advertising practice at Razorfish and went on to build HX, Horizon Media's programmatic practice, from zero to $100MM. Adam’s belief in a free and fair open internet has made him an outspoken antitrust advocate, including testifying to the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust.
Adam lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two young children, maintaining an avid yoga practice that centers his roles as both toddler Dad and ad tech CEO.
Ali Manning
Chief Operations Officer
Ali is like the Rick Rubin of the Chalice crew. She’s a master strategist and collaborator who knows not only how to create change, but how to make that change mainstream.
Following stints in both media and agency life, Ali led go-to-market strategy and operations for Google’s US brand ads business, spearheading massive organizational transformation that enabled YouTube and programmatic advertising to drive $5B in annual revenue. After eight years at Google, Ali joined Snap, building the company’s global programmatic sales operation from the ground up. While at Snap, Ali also pioneered structural changes and professional development opportunities that became central to the brand’s employee culture. She brings this same ambition and vision to Chalice’s go-to-market strategy, sales and client service.
As a working mom of two young kids, Ali re-energizes with long swims off the “Brooklyn Riviera” (Brighton Beach and Coney island, for the uninitiated), and finding the next band t-shirt to add to her impressive collection.
Joe Wilson
Chief Technology Officer
Think of Joe like Grandmaster Flash - the mad musical scientist whose tinkering and tech savvy paved the way for developments that the industry still relies on today.
With more than 30 years of experience in software development and systems architecture in fields as diverse as gaming, scientific simulation and publishing, Joe was an early pioneer on the Web. After a sabbatical to pursue a degree in Astrophysics, Joe went on to help build the Washington Post companies’ two flagship online products, washingtonpost.com and newsweek.com, holding the position of Chief Scientist. Joe left the Washington Post to start LogicTier, the first fully managed hosting provider to online businesses. He also kickstarted TACODA, the first and largest behavioral targeting ad network. Joe served TACODA first as CTO and later as Chief Scientist.
Joe lives in Atlanta, where pastimes like hiking, reading, and tabletop games offer respite from countless lines of code.
Careers
Chalice empowers forward-thinking brands to own their success with transparent, tailored, and intelligent algorithmic ad buying.
We do things differently, and it’s working. Our client list includes leading consumer brands and independent agencies, with significant revenue growth in our sales pipeline. We are rapidly growing and looking to add to our early stage team.
Ready to help create the new standard in algorithmic advertising? Explore our current job openings here.