Outbrain appoints Craig Hughes as VP Partnerships and Corporate Development

Outbrain this month announced that Craig Hughes, a former executive at Unruly, has joined as Vice President, leading global partnerships as part of the corporate development team.

“It’s a privilege to have Craig join Outbrain. He is extremely well-regarded in the digital ad space and is committed to the same principles of trust and transparency as we are at Outbrain. Craig will be instrumental in forging important relationships in the ecosystem and in our corporate development efforts."


Gilad de Vries, SVP of Strategy at Outbrain

Outbrain says Hughes’ initial focus will be on developing relationships with key partners throughout the ecosystem, supporting growth in areas ranging from publisher revenue and brand safety to programmatic access and fraud prevention. In addition, he will also be a key member of Outbrain’s strategy and corporate development team.

Most recently, Craig Hughes served as Senior Vice President, Global Business Development at Unruly, a video SSP acquired by News Corp. Prior to overseeing Unruly’s programmatic transformation, Hughes led Corporate Development through News Corp’s acquisition and was instrumental in developing the companies product strategy as Product Director.

Prior to Unruly, Hughes was a data partnerships and business development lead at Peerindex, a London-based company providing social media analytics, later acquired by Brandwatch.

“It’s clearly a pivotal time in the digital advertising space. Outbrain is fully invested in providing a scaled alternative to the walled garden platforms, for both publishers and marketers to grow their businesses safely and sustainably. I’m excited to be joining Outbrain, not only because our visions for the industry align but also because of the huge potential for continued growth.”


Craig Hughes, VP Partnerships and Corporate Development at Outbrain

Native to the UK, Hughes now operates out of Outbrain’s New York headquarters.