Janet Balis

Senior Vice President and Head of Sales Strategy

Favorite AOL site: Kitchen Daily

As Senior Vice President and Head of Sales Strategy, Marketing and Partnerships, Janet Balis leads AOL Advertising’s Products and Services group. She leads key AOL teams across the organization to provide advertisers with creative solutions for building brands, articulate AOL’s offerings in the marketplace and develop creative and strategic partnerships. Balis also serves as the thought leader for AOL's key clients and agency partnerships.

Prior to joining AOL, Janet worked for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO) as EVP, Media Sales & Marketing, where she led sales and marketing across print, broadcast and digital media assets. Balis joined MSLO from Digital Media Strategies, a company she founded in January 2008 to guide entertainment and media companies – including Discovery Communications, Turner Broadcasting and Warner Bros. Television – on their digital strategy.

Before founding Digital Media Strategies, Balis spent eight years at Time Warner. From 2004 to 2007, she was Senior Vice President of Sales Development for AOL Media Networks, supporting the company’s transition to an advertising-based business model, and establishing AOL as an innovative media partner to clients, including leading key sponsorships and branded entertainment efforts.

Before joining AOL, she spent five years at Time Inc., where she was responsible for sales and marketing across the division's 20 websites – including People, TIME, Fortune and InStyle. Balis was also co-founder of the Mascot Network, a network of sites for college students, and spent time at Goldman Sachs and A.T. Kearney.

Balis was recently recognized by Advertising Age's as one of the "2010 Women to Watch" and by Crain's as one of the "Top 40 Under 40." She serves as an advisor to a start-up developing an integrated media and retail business in the DIY/fashion space, and has served on the board of Ziplist. Balis has a BA from Columbia College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.