About Brian Berner
Brian Berner is an accomplished media and technology executive with over 15 years of experience in the world of advertising and sales. He is currently Spotify’s Head of Global Advertising Sales & Partnerships. Brian formerly served as the Head of North American Advertising Sales at Spotify, where he lead nearly 200 employees across management, sales and sales support in all matters related to advertising revenue across the US and Canada.
Brian had the unique experience of definitively discovering his lifelong career path as a young college student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He studied management information systems and information hierarchies, but it was really his job selling advertisements in the school newspaper that helped Berner realize his passion, which led to his decision to pursue a career in advertising rather than investment banking.
After graduating in 2003, Brian Berner began working at an email marketing firm that developed into MySpace, becoming the social media site’s first salesperson. He quickly advanced from a role as an individual contributor to sales manager, and was instrumental in jumpstarting sales efforts in the West Coast, eventually going on to do the same on the East Coast and in the Midwest, becoming MySpace’s Sales Director for the latter region.
Experience
Moving forward in his career, Brian then became the Vice President of Midwest Sales for Centro, a marketing solutions firm, and soon after was picked up by music streaming service Spotify as their Regional Vice President for the Midwest. Coming on board before they launched, Brian Berner once again was vital in opening up offices in the Midwest and throughout the US. Through constant achievement over the course of his time there, Berner was elevated to oversee all US advertising sales, eventually getting promoted to Head of Advertising Sales for North America in its entirety.
Brian Berner’s varied background has made him a valuable and multi-talented contributor throughout his career. His expertise approaches a holistic intersection of information, data, technology and advertising, which has given him a distinct advantage in his industry well before the rise of the digital and data-driven world we live in today.
A major benefit of Brian’s experience with consulting and information hierarchies is that his knowledge has allowed him to understand complex office structures and systems and break them down to their most basic form. Through this, he has spearheaded and created numerous simplified conferences that make it easier to educate and train employees, as well as help clients understand value propositions. Brian has a proven track record of cultivating talent as an inspiring and natural leader who performs well in high-tension and changing environments.
While he has achieved more than he had set out to accomplish at the beginning of his career, Brian Berner is continually looking for the next milestone to strive for, whether it’s in the professional sphere or in his personal life. He aims to continue advancing in his career, with the hopes of eventually striking out on his own as an entrepreneur. Brian also has a deep interest in philanthropy and education, and one of his long-term goals is to lend his efforts toward fixing Chicago’s education system, where he grew up.