Wenda Harris Millard is the Executive Vice President for DoubleClick Media, an Internet advertising company that does work for Web Publishers and Web Advertisers. She has been in publishing for over two decades, and joined DoubleClick in 1996 when it was a startup company. Her awards and distinctions are numerous: she is a recipient of the Women at Work Broadcast Award, the IABC Award of Excellence, the AAF Crystal Prism Award, and a was named one of the "i20, " a honor given to the twenty most influential executives in interactive media, among other distinctions. She has earned her MBA from Harvard University, is a Trinity Alumna, and sits on the Trinity Board of Trustees.

Can you tell me a little about the "Archer Lane Scoop" and how you became interested in the field?
You’ve heard the expression that some people are born knowing what they want to do. For some reason, I knew I wanted to be in the media. I started the "Archer Lane Scoop" at age nine and was the publisher, editor, and chief bottle washer. I then went on to be editor of my high school paper and yearbook, and when I came to Trinity I pursued any opportunity to write. I was editor of the Tripod and editor of the literary magazine. I created a newsletter called "internship news", which told stories of other Trinity students who were pursuing interesting internships. So I was feeling entrepreneurial leanings very early on in the media.

What does a executive VP/ general manager do? What would a typical day be for you?
It’s intense, and the business, because of the Internet as the advertising medium, is about sixteen hundred days old. The business can feel like it changes from morning to afternoon. My day is spent primarily talking with the sites that comprise the Double-click network, we represent hundreds of sites around the world to sell advertising. So I’m talking to folks from Dilbert, or Macromedia, or Modern Bride or Teen magazine, who are part of our network. I help them understand how to derive the most benefits from their online products. I also talk to marketers, whether it’s people from IBM, Proctor and Gamble, or General Foods, or General Motors, about how to make their advertising on the web work.

Describe one experience which keeps you happy with where you are.
Probably helping people, like web advertisers and web publishers, understand how this Internet medium can answer some of the greatest advertising questions of all time, and help people market their goods and services in a way that they’ve never really been able to.

You joined DoubleClick as the 14th person, and now it’s looking to have around 2,500 people- how would you say that your particular job factored into the growth of DoubleClick?
It’s very true that the barriers to entry in the business are very low, so a lot of people can get into the advertising business. One of the things that have differentiated DoubleClick and caused it to be successful is the fact that we execute well. There are a lot of terrific ideas out there, but you have to be able to execute. As for my role in it, one of the smartest things Kevin Connor did (our chairman and founder) was hire people who knew things he didn’t know. He hired me for my expertise in advertising and media. He hired other people for their expertise in technology and data, and HR, and marketing. But the expertise that we brought to it, and the fact that we are people who know how to execute on a great idea, I think really differentiated DoubleClick. There are so many wonderful ideas and so many easy ways to get into the Internet business, but execution is everything - how well are you building the business, how effective are you at building the business. To get an idea is just that, and an idea does not a business make. You need to be able to grow a business, and understand who your customers are, what you’re going to do for them, and how you’re going to build a relationship with them.

What do you consider the best way to stay current in your field?
It’s hard not to stay current, because there’s no past, because the industry is so new. It’s not the kind of industry you study; there’s no history and it’s four years old as an advertising medium. It’s very hard to look back or towards the future because we are still at the beginning stages of this medium. We can only speculate on how the user will relate to the medium or what the medium will look like. We are just about to be assaulted with wireless communications, and we look at the computer today, the television, the palm pilot, telephone, we will very soon have devices in our lives that make the Internet ubiquitous. The Internet will be everywhere, you will be able to connect from any platform, from any place. So to stay current with the trends, it doesn’t cost a lot to read on the web, in print, to attend industry conferences, to socialize with people who are in the Internet who are making a difference. One of the things that Kevin O’Connor and I do is host a dinner, called "DoubleClick off the Record". We do this in different cities throughout the country for different presidents and chairmen at advertiser companies, marketers and agencies. We engage them in a literary off the record conversation, never attribute anything they say to them, and we don’t invite the press. We get into discussions about what’s going on in the Internet, what things are going to look like in three to five years, and what’s getting in our way of realizing what it could be. So we have a lot of opportunities as a business to stay very current with people’s thinking and with trends. We also are big educators- everything in the media, by the way, revolves around food. I have a dinner and breakfast series called "What’s Clicking" which gets very specific- we have series like "What’s Clicking in Travel" and "What’s Clicking in Entertainment". We run around the country and help educate our customers about specific trends in vertical categories. So we do a lot in terms of educating, but we also get educated a lot by our customers, so we get a real one-to-one exchange of information.

Where do you see the Internet going in three to five years and what possible barriers might your company encounter?
I am a believer in convergence of media and not a convergence of a unit. By that I mean we are not all going to sit on a couch and stare at a big box that is going to mean everything to us. I think convergence of media means being able to get messages across, to receive Internet communication, whether it’s content or advertising on a cross-platform basis. As I said, I believe the Internet will be ubiquitous, it will be everywhere, at all times. Wireless will be everywhere. So I’m a big believer that that’s going to happen very quickly. Some of the things that are getting in our way are the obvious band with, but that’s going to be over so soon that it’s almost a non-issue anymore, it’s simply a matter of time. The issue of privacy is going to stunt the pace of growth, it’s not going to stunt the growth overall while consumers begin to grapple with what’s really going on in advertising and marketing. It’s terribly confusing out there now, and there’s a tremendous amount of misinformation. It’s very consuming if you are a user of the Internet to understand if you’re being tracked or who’s doing what with that information.

You’ve been heard to say that to have gotten where you are now, you need to have an entrepreneurial ability. What are some of the qualities a person should develop to have this skill?
Entrepreneurs are self- identified. If you are an entrepreneur, you know it, you can feel it. It is absolutely important to have real faith in what your idea is, a very tough skin not to let things get in your way, and keep your vision very clear and focused on the end game. Entrepreneurism is so alive and well in this country that  you can be an entrepreneur inside anybody else’s company. I consider myself an entrepreneur inside this large and publicly held company. To be one means to understand that it’s not a game of permission- you take the ball and you run with it.  You make things happen, and when you do that, most companies will reward you well. If you’re taking the ball and scoring touchdowns and not getting rewarded for it, then leave that company.

Do you have any recommendations for students about activities or certain internships they should do or experience they should try to pursue in they are interested in the field?
One of the most important things for students to do is to try and get the experience so you do have a feeling of what it’s like to work in an advertising agency, what’s it like to work in a Internet company, or anywhere that students can get experience in fields that look interesting to them. Doing it early on is important, and can also be a selling point later when interviewing. People are looking for demonstration of commitment or interest, and in our case in the Internet, it’s all about passion. People in a hiring capacity want to see that. So its really beneficial to the student not only because he or she is learning about what a day in the life might be like, but it’s a major selling point that you’ve demonstrated interest and you’re very curious about learning, and you’re committed to pursuing a career in a particular area.

Could you describe the top three strongest qualifications of a candidate in an entry level position?
Passion is a big one. We are looking for people who are passionate about our business. Second of all, we are looking for athletes, and I don’t mean people who are involved in sports. I’m talking about people who are winners. They are the people who lead in the classroom, on the field, and in the social circuit. You can tell a winner. You know who wants to win. Notice I didn’t say "people who are trained in..." It’s not necessarily about the specifics. I don’t necessarily care if someone was an Art History major, an English major, or a majored in a field really unrelated to what I’m going to hire. I’m looking for athletes, and for people that have demonstrated a passion and commitment. This also assumes that we’re dealing with a person of a high intellect, someone who’s very smart. We’re not necessarily looking for courses, we will teach you everything you need to know. We’re looking for people who are going to win, who are going to take the ball and run with it.

Each industry seems to develop a particular culture. For example, the computer companies tend to dress more relaxed. Is there any customs or things a student entering the Internet industry should look out for?
Yes, I think that the Internet culture prizes speed. Speed kills if you don’t have it on the Internet. If you were going out to lunch, say on an interview, or you were spending some time with an Internet company, people are looking for the quickness of your mind. Everything happens quickly on the Internet. Whereas if you are interviewing with a consulting company, they are looking for how thoughtful are you. That is not at all to say that the Internet is not at all strategic- it’s very strategic. But there’s a nimbleness and an agility of the mind that is highly prized on the Internet. To listen incredibly attentively to what’s being asked and to hit it dead on is important. If it’s the Internet you’re going after, students have to understand that people love being in this business. I don’t know much about any other business besides media, marketing, and advertising, but I’m not sure that everyone who works in insurance is passionate about insurance. Maybe they are, I don’t know that. But people who work on the Internet are passionate about that industry. They expect you to demonstrate that same kind of interest and passion. So an interview with an Internet company is involved, it's almost physical and not a laid back situation. People are looking to see that you would kill to join their company because you just love the Internet and the company in particular.

What’s the working hours like for a person our age at such an Internet company?
The Internet is definitely sixty to seventy hours a week, but what happens is it’s not required- we have trouble getting people to stop working because people are so in love with it and so fascinated with it that people just naturally work sixty to seventy hours a week, and it’s not something that you also graduate away from. I’ve been working over twenty five years and I still working incredibly long hours and passionately and late at night and weekends wherever I am, but it’s not because someone wants me to do that other than me, I want to do that. It’s not for the thin-skinned- you are growing company within an industry that’s hardly born yet so hard work is absolutely part of it. So again, people want to be in this industry, and they’re there because they love the work.

When you’re out on your own and cultivating your own business or project, more often than not you’ll work twice as hard to get things going. Are there opportunities at a company like DoubleClick that allow a person to feel like they’re on their own in an entrepreneurial sense?
The first thing is in your compensation. Every single person at Doubleclick gets stock options. So you’re not only important, you own the company. You are going to be a part of that company, because when you exercise your options you are a shareholder. That’s very important. The first thing that happens when you come to DoubleClick is that you go to something called "Clicker Camp" and that is an intense five day training program that gets you ensconced in our business. That’s the first sign that we’re going to invest in you and make you very smart about the Internet. Then we have something called "DoubleClick University". We can do that on-line, or take classes, but we require that you take 80 hours a year of training, so that you can learning pretty much anything you want to learn about the Internet. It’s an extraordinary move, most companies will not train that way. But we make the investment in our folks so that they end up being the smartest people on the Internet. We also get a huge return from it, because people don’t leave our company. We’re investing in them, we’re letting them be successful. It’s very non bureaucratic, it’s not hierarchical, and that is relatively typical of the Internet- it does not prize anything but merit. So you could be 22 years old, and walk in there and be brilliant, and you’ll be allowed to be brilliant. You don't have to climb step by step.

What kind of higher education would a new person to the Internet business look for further on down the road?
That’s a very interesting question, and also difficult to answer right now. Ten and twenty years ago, an MBA was far more prized in general in many different industries. The reason for that, is that at a company like DoubleClick, your MBA is your employment. The people who come to DoubleClick stay there. We move people all over the country. I had a young guy who worked for me as a marketing director who moved in from New York to open up the Japanese DoubleClick operation, and then moved into Australia to open up that operation. We sent five people to Ireland, others to the UK, and others to France. We move people all over the world. They get international degrees, if you will. They’re getting their MBA on the job. What’s very interesting to me is the number of people who come to me between the ages of twenty seven and thirty four and say that they’re at prime time for their MBA, and ask me whether they should get it. And the question is, in this world, where your getting your MBA and degree in international relationships on the job, it’s a very tough decision for to help somebody make. There aren’t that many industries where your going to get it all by staying there and growing with it. So it’s not measured step by step. We’re inventing it. The ones who thrive in it are those who just go do it. For people who are entrepreneurs, it’s music to their ears.

Do you have any last words of advice for those looking ahead or those about to leave Trinity?
Try to find something that you really like to do. I’ve been doing this for twenty five years, and I can’t wait to get up in the morning. I’m pretty lucky. They call it work for a reason, it’s not play. Try to find something that you really enjoy, and that’s when your going to be very very good at it. The other thing I would say is use your resources, your Trinity connections, anything that you have, because there’s no reason why your not going to get the job that you want, but you need to be smart about it. Don’t be shy about asking people for help, it’s absolutely worth it. But find something to do that you would absolutely love.