Hayley Bradway brings adtech experience to Whitebox as VP of marketing

Following a $5 million Series A and growth that brought it to a new office earlier this year, Whitebox is putting focus behind marketing its ecommerce fulfillment platform.

To lead the effort, the company hired Hayley Bradway as VP of marketing.

Bradway brings 15 years of experience working with Baltimore-based teams, including advertising technology companies: She worked over the last two years with Lotame, and also has experience at recognizable Baltimore tech names AOL and Millennial Media. She’s also spent time at Baltimore-based home improvement brand DAP Products, and the development company Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse.

Bradway said all of that experience will apply at Whitebox, which helps brands sell online by bringing automated processes and data to the logistics and fulfillment involved in ecommerce, as well as the sales and marketing of the products. The company works with both established brands seeking new sales channels and startups looking to grow via online selling.

Working with brands, Bradway said she’s seen transformation in the direct-to-consumer model that’s been brought by ecommerce, as well as changes in how consumers learn about and find products. At DAP, she gained experience working directly for a brand that was manufacturing products, as well as thinking about where to reach consumers and building relationships. The adtech companies brought data and technology tools to those efforts.

Her new post sees each of those elements coming together: “Knowing there’s such a massive opportunity there made Whitebox very exciting,” Bradway said.

CEO Marcus Startzel said the company is adding attention to growing its client base.

“We’ve got repeatable success. We’ve got product-market fit,” said Startzel, who is also a former executive with Millennial Media and Advertising.com. Now, he said, one point of emphasis is, “How do we take it to the next level through our marketing?”

He said the company sought an “A player” to lead that effort. Bradway will be the company’s first marketing-focused hire.

The new role builds on an existing connection. Bradway previously knew Startzel, who joined the company in the last year, from their shared former workplace. (Whitebox also counts additional Millennial Media alums among its team.)

In talking with Startzel and other team members, Bradwell said the “excitement and energy in talking about the opportunity, mission and plan over the coming months and years made it a no-brainer.”

The hiring news comes as the six-year-old company’s team continues to grow. Whitebox moved to a new Holabird Avenue space that puts its tech team beside the warehouse space where products are readied and shipped, and it now has more than 50 employees — including more dev talent, Startzel said.