---
title: "AdExchanger Names Lauren Wetzel of WPP and Kristi Argyilan of The Trade Desk as 2026 Top Women Special Recognition Award Recipients"
url: https://adtech.lol/articles/bd66250d-c71e-4c45-961f-5c04346d86d4
source_url: https://www.adexchanger.com/marketers/adexchanger-names-lauren-wetzel-of-wpp-and-kristi-argyilan-of-the-trade-desk-as-2026-top-women-special-recognition-award-recipients/
source_site: adexchanger
author: "AdExchanger"
published: 2026-10-12T00:00:00+00:00
tags: ["Women in Media", "Ad Tech", "Awards", "Recognition"]
publisher: AdTech Radar
---

# AdExchanger Names Lauren Wetzel of WPP and Kristi Argyilan of The Trade Desk as 2026 Top Women Special Recognition Award Recipients

> Two of the industry’s most consequential leaders receive the program’s highest individual honors.

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**  
_Two of the industry’s most consequential leaders receive the program’s highest individual honors._  

**New York, NY — October 12, 2026** — AdExchanger today named Kristi Argyilan, Chief Commercial Officer at The Trade Desk, and Lauren Wetzel, Global President, Data and Technology Solutions at WPP, as recipients of the 2026 Top Women in Media & Ad Tech Special Recognition Awards, the program’s highest individual honors, reserved for leaders whose impact reaches far beyond their organizations.

Argyilan receives the Industry Impact Award, the highest honor of the evening, for a career that has set the standard for creativity, innovation and sustained influence. She helped launch Target’s retail media business, now Roundel, built Albertsons Media Collective in-house and pushed the industry toward shared measurement standards. At Uber, she accelerated an ad business that passed $2 billion in annualized revenue in 2025, according to ADWEEK. Today she leads data partnerships at The Trade Desk. AdExchanger has called her the “godmother of retail media.”

Wetzel receives the Catalyst Award, recognizing a leader who has driven extraordinary growth and transformation for her business, her team and the industry around her. She rose through strategy and operations at Xandr and InfoSum, became InfoSum’s CEO in 2024 and led it through its acquisition by WPP in 2025. She has challenged the industry’s “privacy-washing” and argued that privacy and performance are not at odds.

“Kristi and Lauren did not wait for a seat at the table. They built it,” said **Lynne d Johnson, Director of Content and Community, AdExchanger**. “As women on this team who champion other women, we want every woman in this industry to see what that leadership looks like.”

“Commerce becoming a media channel and privacy-safe data becoming the way brands collaborate are two of the biggest stories we cover,” said **Sarah Sluis, Editorial Director, Ad Tech/Convergent Media.** “Kristi and Lauren sit at the center of both, and they got there by running the business and setting the standards.”

Argyilan and Wetzel join a remarkable 2026 class of AdExchanger Top Women in Media & Ad Tech honorees—trailblazers from The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal, Roku, The Coca-Cola Company, Microsoft AI, Magnite, PayPal Ads and more than 150 organizations across every corner of media and ad tech.

**Honorees will be celebrated at the AdExchanger Top Women in Media & Ad Tech Awards Gala on November 3, 2026, at The Lighthouse in New York City, an evening of recognition, celebration, and connection with leaders from across the media and ad tech ecosystem.** 

**About AdExchanger:**  
AdExchanger is the leading trade publication and event platform for data-driven advertising and marketing technology. Through authoritative journalism, industry analysis, and premier events, AdExchanger informs and connects the executives and innovators driving the future of digital media and advertising.

Source: [https://www.adexchanger.com/marketers/adexchanger-names-lauren-wetzel-of-wpp-and-kristi-argyilan-of-the-trade-desk-as-2026-top-women-special-recognition-award-recipients/](https://www.adexchanger.com/marketers/adexchanger-names-lauren-wetzel-of-wpp-and-kristi-argyilan-of-the-trade-desk-as-2026-top-women-special-recognition-award-recipients/)