The body has hired Anna Bager to lead the new Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, which will devote funding to research projects, mobile advertising case studies, training and developing best practices.

Sixteen IAB member companies have committed financial support to the new centre, including eight that will specifically support R&D: 24/7 Real Media, CNN, Disney Interactive Media Group, Federated Media, The Huffington Post, IDG Communications, NBC Universal and Tremor Media.

Bager joins the IAB from global telecoms firm Ericsson where she served as head of business intelligence for the multimedia division. She also served as consulting manager at IDC’s telecommunications and networking centre.

Greg McCastle, SVP for advanced ad solutions at AT&T and an IAB board director, said the centre “will provide the next phase of leadership required for continued growth in the mobile advertising industry. Consumers want their information and entertainment on-the-go, and this trend is only going to continue, bringing enormous opportunity for advertisers to stay connected to their audiences.”