The Trade Desk Loses Jud Spencer, Its Longtime Engineering Lead | AdExchanger

image/svg+xml:

Topics
Latest
Marketers
Agencies
Publishers
Technology
Platforms
Identity
Measurement
Data Privacy
Artificial Intelligence
CTV
Commerce
AdExplainer
Exclusive Report
Daily News Roundup

Opinion
All Columns
Data-Driven Thinking
On TV & Video
The Sell Sider
Content Studio
Comic
Contributor Guidelines

About Us
Advertise
Newsletter
AdExchanger Advisory Board
About Us
Contact Us

Events
Programmatic I/O New York
AdExchanger Awards
Webinars
All Events
Network Events

Podcasts
AdExchanger Talks
The Big Story
Inside the Stack

Programmatic I/O New York

Become an AdHero

Subscribe

Sign In

Sign In

Topics
Latest
Marketers
Agencies
Publishers
Technology
Platforms
Identity
Measurement
Data Privacy
Artificial Intelligence
CTV
Commerce
AdExplainer
Exclusive Report
Daily News Roundup

Opinion
All Columns
Data-Driven Thinking
On TV & Video
The Sell Sider
Content Studio
Comic
Contributor Guidelines

Events & Awards
Programmatic I/O New York
AdExchanger Awards
Webinars
All Events
Network Events

Podcasts
AdExchanger Talks
The Big Story
Inside the Stack

Subscribe Free
Sign Up

About Us
Advertise
Newsletter
AdExchanger Advisory Board
About Us
Contact Us

CONNECT

Home Platforms The Trade Desk Loses Jud Spencer, Its Longtime Engineering Lead

Platforms
The Trade Desk Loses Jud Spencer, Its Longtime Engineering Lead By Anthony Vargas

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2025 – 12:45 am
SHARE:

One of The Trade Desk’s longest-tenured leaders on the product side has left the company.
Jud Spencer, who served as one of TTD’s lead engineers for the past 12-plus years, confirmed to AdExchanger that his last day at the DSP was Nov. 21.
Spencer declined to elaborate on the reason for his departure or to comment on his future plans.
However, he did say that he is interested in continuing standards work around ad inventory and the transparency of programmatic transactions. He added that his time spent at TTD was rewarding because it was an opportunity to make meaningful changes to the ad tech supply chain.

“It was important work that allowed buyers to understand what they were purchasing and from whom,” Spencer said. “There’s more work to do here, and I hope that progress continues with initiatives like global placement ID, Transaction ID and derivative projects that make these even more valuable.”
The Trade Desk declined to comment on Spencer leaving the company.
Trade group dynamics
In addition to helping develop The Trade Desk’s DSP platform over the years, Spencer was also instrumental in its supply-side inventory sourcing and media quality assessments and he oversaw TTD’s various tech partnerships, including with verification provider HUMAN.
On top of that, Spencer has been an active participant in key industry trade groups, namely the IAB Tech Lab’s Programmatic Supply Chain Working Group.
Spencer also worked with Patrick McCann, a Prebid board member and Raptive’s SVP of research, to develop the OpenRTB Transaction ID standard, which Prebid implemented into its auction wrapper.
However, Spencer’s departure from The Trade Desk coincides with increasingly contentious relations between TTD and industry trade orgs, Prebid in particular.

Subscribe

AdExchanger Daily
Get our editors’ roundup delivered to your inbox every weekday.

Daily Roundup

Daily News Roundup
Nowhere To Go But Up; Rolling Out The (Code) Red Carpet

Over the past few months, The Trade Desk and Prebid.org have been embroiled in a public disagreement over whether universal Transaction IDs should be included in all programmatic bid requests.
That disagreement led to Prebid nixing universal Transaction IDs from its auction framework in August. That, in turn, led The Trade Desk to launch OpenAds in October, its own forked version of Prebid that mandates the use of Transaction IDs.
The leadership shuffle
While both Spencer and The Trade Desk are remaining mum about his move and any possible motivation behind it, it’s worth pointing out that there’s been an overhaul recently of TTD’s executive-level leadership.
The DSP hired three new C-level execs this year following the exit of some of its longest-tenured leaders.
In October, TTD announced that its chief revenue officer, Jed Dederick, had stepped down after a year in the role, ending his 13-year run at the company. Dederick was replaced as CRO by former Google exec Anders Mortensen.
In August, TTD’s chief financial officer, Laura Schenkein, stepped down after a two-year stint. She previously spent a decade in financial leadership roles for the company. Schenkein was replaced as CFO by former Salesforce exec Alex Kayyal.
In March, The Trade Desk hired another former Salesforce executive, Vivek Kundra, as chief operating officer. TTD’s COO position had gone unfilled since Rob Perdue stepped down in 2019, following six years in the role.
And, back in 2023, TTD’s longtime chief technology officer, Dave Pickles, left the company after 13 years in the role and 15-plus years total. Thus far, the vacant CTO role has yet to be filled.
Between Pickles and Spencer, the company has now lost two of its longest-running leaders on the product side.
However, Sincera Co-Founders Mike O’Sullivan and Ian Meyers appear to have gained more influence over The Trade Desk’s product development since their startup was acquired by TTD in January. O’Sullivan’s new official title at The Trade Desk is GM of product.
Alongside Jeff Green, The Trade Desk’s CEO, O’Sullivan has been the public face of some of TTD’s recent product announcements, including its OpenSincera media quality assessment tool for publishers and its OpenAds auction wrapper.
While TTD seems to be laying the groundwork for its future leadership and sketching out a new product roadmap, the exit of so much institutional knowledge at the executive level over just two short years is notable. Spencer leaving is just the latest example of how much The Trade Desk has changed in recent years.
Now, it remains to be seen how The Trade Desk’s new leadership will shepherd the company through growing challenges from rival DSPs like Amazon, increased competition from SSPs over the demand-side business and open questions from investors about the viability of some of TTD’s recent moves.

Next In Platforms

Omnicom Allegedly Pivoted A Chunk Of Its Q3 Spend From The Trade Desk To Amazon

Related Stories

Platforms
Verification Providers Missed Easy-To-Spot Bots, Says Adalytics. What Went Wrong?

Platforms
The Trade Desk’s Auction Evolutions Bring High Drama To The Prebid Summit

Platforms
Omnicom Allegedly Pivoted A Chunk Of Its Q3 Spend From The Trade Desk To Amazon

Platforms
Adalytics: The Ad Industry’s Bot Problem Is Worse Than We Thought

Must Read

Commerce
How America’s Biggest Retailers Are Rethinking Their Businesses And Their Stores

America’s biggest department stores are changing, and changing fast.

Technology
How AudienceMix Is Mixing Up The Data Sales Business

AudienceMix, a new curation startup, aims to make it more cost effective to mix and match different audience segments using only the data brands need to execute their campaigns.

Digital Out-Of-Home
Broadsign Acquires Place Exchange As The DOOH Category Hits Its Stride

On Tuesday, digital out-of-home (DOOH) ad tech startup Place Exchange was acquired by Broadsign, another out-of-home SSP.

Social Media
Meta’s Ad Platform Is Going Haywire In Time For The Holidays (Again)

For the uninitiated, “Glitchmas” is our name for what’s become an annual tradition when, from between roughly late October through November, Meta’s ad platform just seems to go bonkers.

antitrust
Closing Arguments Are Done In The US v. Google Ad Tech Case

The publisher-focused DOJ v. Google ad tech antitrust trial is finished. A judge will now decide the fate of Google’s sell-side ad tech business.

Programmatic
Wall Street Wants To Know What The Programmatic Drama Is About

Competitive tensions and ad tech drama have flared all year. And this drama has rippled out into the investor circle, as evident from a slew of recent ad tech company earnings reports.

Popular

OPINION: Data-Driven Thinking
CTV Is Less Transparent Than YouTube. That Should Alarm Everyone

CTV spending is flattening, performance is plateauing and buyers are hesitant to push budgets further. The reason is not complicated. When buyers cannot see what they are buying, they cannot commit their spend with conviction.

PODCAST: AdExchanger Talks
Making Your Brand Matter To The Models

You can’t buy your way to the top of a large-language model. At least not yet. But there are things that brands can do to influence how – and if – they get mentioned, says Tracy Morrissey, SVP of media and performance at full-service agency Innocean USA.

Data
Media Intelligence Startup Guideline.ai Aims To Take The Guesswork Out Of Media Planning

Meet Guideline, a marketing intelligence platform that aggregates anonymized agency billing data to generate data-driven insights on media spend, pricing and market trends.

Marketers
Here's How Manscaped Groomed Its Brand For Long-Term Growth

Manscaped’s CMO Marcelo Kertész on flipping its strategy from quick-win performance marketing to building a lasting brand with smarter, long-term growth.

Marketers
Why Acne Treatment Brand Differin Developed Pimple-Popping, Hormone-Dodging Roblox Games

Differin, which produces over-the-counter gels and patches to treat acne, wanted to reach teens facing their first breakouts – and do it in a way that felt real.

Join the AdExchanger Community
Join Now

Your trusted source for in-depth programmatic news, views, education and events.
AdExchanger is where marketers, agencies, publishers and tech companies go for the latest information on the trends that are transforming digital media and marketing, from data, privacy, identity and AI to commerce, CTV, measurement and mobile.

NEXT EVENT
Most Powerful Women
December 4, 2025CurrentNew York, NY
Learn More

ABOUT ADEXCHANGER
About Us
Advertise
Contact Us
Events
Subscribe
RSS
Cookie Settings
Privacy & Terms
Accessibility
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

CONNECT

© 2025 Access Intelligence, LLC - All Rights Reserved

The Trade Desk has recently experienced a significant leadership change, with Jud Spencer, a long-time engineering lead, departing the company in November 2025. Spencer, who served The Trade Desk for over 12 years, focused on improving inventory transparency and the overall programmatic supply chain. He was instrumental in developing standards like global placement ID and Transaction ID, alongside work with Patrick McCann and Raptive to establish the Transaction ID standard. Spencer’s departure coincided with increasing tensions between The Trade Desk and Prebid.org, particularly regarding universal Transaction IDs, leading to The Trade Desk’s development of its own OpenAds auction wrapper.

In addition to Spencer’s exit, The Trade Desk has undergone a recent overhaul of its executive leadership, reflecting broader changes within the company. This includes the departures of chief revenue officer Jed Dederick, chief financial officer Laura Schenkein, and chief technology officer Dave Pickles, all within the past two years. The Trade Desk has hired replacements for these positions, including Anders Mortensen (formerly Google), Alex Kayyal (formerly Salesforce), and Vivek Kundra (formerly Salesforce), alongside CEO Jeff Green. Notably, Mike O’Sullivan, who took on the role of GM of product following the acquisition of Sincera, has become a public face of The Trade Desk’s product announcements, such as its OpenSincera media quality assessment tool and OpenAds auction wrapper.

The departure of Spencer and other seasoned leaders signifies a period of significant transition and restructuring for The Trade Desk. This leadership turnover underscores the challenges involved in adapting to evolving industry dynamics, particularly the ongoing disagreements with Prebid.org and the increasing competition from other DSPs, including Amazon and SSPs. The newly appointed executive team will be tasked with navigating these challenges and charting a new course for The Trade Desk’s future, even as the company grapples with questions regarding the viability of certain initiatives and investor expectations.