ANA group EVP Dan Jaffe, who has led that organization’s Government Relations office in Washington, D.C. for the past 36 years, will retire at the end of this year.
Jaffe, a Washington veteran long recognized as one of the marketing industry’s most influential lobbyists, will be succeeded by ANA SVP Christopher Oswald, who will be promoted to EVP in January 2022.
Jaffe joined the ANA in 1985 as head of the association’s Washington office. Before coming to the ANA, he spent 11 years in the nation’s capital as a staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Jaffe also served as Committee Counsel to the Senate’s Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee after serving as staff director of its Consumer Subcommittee.
Throughout his distinguished ANA career, Jaffe was a principal leader in helping to expand the First Amendment protection of advertising. He has worked with leading constitutional scholars and advertising advocates to elevate the legal status of commercial speech and also is a board member of the Digital Advertising Alliance, which focuses on internet privacy issues. He has been an energetic advocate of advertising rights on Capitol Hill, before the Federal Trade Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, and the FCC, and in a wide range of public forums.
“Dan has amassed an incredible array of accomplishments that would be the envy of any professional executive, which have added enormous value for ANA members and elevated the ANA’s reputation in the marketing ecosystem,” Liodice said. “His many achievements have left an indelible mark on our entire industry, and the debt marketers owe him is enormous.”
In a memo to ANA staff, Liodice cited key projects and initiatives that Jaffe had spearheaded during his ANA tenure:
- The Florida Ad Tax battle of 1987, in which the state legislature passed a tax on advertising as a way to increase revenue. Had the tax remained, other states were expected to follow suit. Jaffe spearheaded an industry effort that led the state legislature to rescind the tax.
- The creation of the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), which developed a national protocol for digital marketers to provide consumer choice by opting out of unwanted behavioral targeting. The move helped stave off a movement by several states to introduce restrictive privacy legislation that would have had a potentially severe impact on digital marketers.
- In 2017, proposed national tax legislation included two bills that would have stripped marketers of their ability to deduct marketing-related expenses in the year they were incurred. Under Jaffe’s leadership, neither of the bills were included in the final, passed legislation, which saved the marketing industry more than $200 billion.
“My impending retirement is a bittersweet experience for me because I have truly enjoyed my working life at the ANA and am thankful for the enormous help I have received over the years both personally and professionally,” Jaffe said. “I appreciate the kind words I have received since my announcement, but I am compelled to add that it truly takes a village to make an association succeed. My heartfelt thanks go out to the tremendous government relations staff in Washington and especially to Bob Liodice for his constant support and encouragement. Anyone in association government relations work knows that they can only succeed if they have the strong support of the association’s leadership, and Bob has always had our back. For that I am extremely grateful.”
Longtime ANA partners also commented on Jaffe’s retirement.
“I’ve worked with Dan for more than thirty years and can say without reservation that he is one of very few people who through his service to the advertising community not only saved brands billions of dollars, but also stood tall and firm defending their First Amendment rights and protecting them from unnecessary and overreaching regulation and taxation,” said Douglas Wood, senior counsel, Entertainment and Media Law Group at the law firm of Reed Smith and general counsel for the ANA. “While he never sought the limelight he richly deserves, those of us who worked with him know how profound his impact has been.”
Stu Ingis, chairman of the law firm Venable and co-chair of its eCommerce, Privacy, and Cybersecurity Group, added: “I have worked with Dan for over 20 years, and he has been a tireless advocate for the advertising community.”
Christoper Oswald
Oswald joined the ANA in 2018 as part of the association’s acquisition of the Data & Marketing Association (DMA) and assumed responsibility for government relations and advocacy efforts in Congress, regulatory agencies, and all 50 states.
“Chris is an extraordinarily talented individual with outstanding expertise in navigating state privacy and tax issues,” Liodice said. “He has worked closely with Dan over the past few years to direct the ANA’s government relations agenda, and he is ideally suited to continue that work for many years to come. We are privileged to have such a superbly capable executive come in to seamlessly take the reins of this critically important part of the ANA.”
Prior to ANA, Oswald served as VP of advocacy for the DMA, where he led the DMA’s government lobbying efforts, and was a member of the DMA senior leadership team. He also served on the board of the Digital Advertising Alliance and represented the DMA with the Global Direct Marketing Association.
“I am humbled and honored by the confidence Bob Liodice has placed in me to continue Dan Jaffe’s long and peerless legacy in zealously advocating for the marketing industry,” Oswald said. “The Government Relations team and I look forward to continuing to engage closely with the ANA’s members to amplify the voice of advertisers and marketers in Washington and statehouses across the country.”
