Vantage Names Retail Media Veteran Melissa Gallo Vice President, Solutions and Delivery

Former CVS Media Exchange and Walmart Connect leader joins as operational execution becomes a key differentiator in commerce and retail media

TORONTO—May 28, 2026—Vantage, the operating system for commerce and retail media, today announced that Melissa Gallo has joined the company as Vice President, Solutions and Delivery, a role created to meet the demands of Vantage’s rapidly expanding customer base. She will lead the global teams responsible for customers’ overall success within the Vantage platform as well as the growth of their media networks, overseeing onboarding, implementation, strategy, and long-term adoption.

Her appointment reflects where commerce and retail media stand today: global ad spend is approaching $200 billion, and the market has shifted from rapid expansion into a period of operational rigor and platform consolidation. As budgets concentrate around top-performing networks, retailers with better technology infrastructure and operational efficiency gain the edge. That means easing buying across all touchpoints, streamlining workflows, and achieving clear, defensible ROI.

With more than 20 years of experience across retail media and ad tech, Gallo has held leadership roles at CVS Media Exchange , Walmart Connect, Yieldmo, Index Exchange, and IAB Tech Lab.

“Retailers choose Vantage because they want a strategic technology partner for the long haul, one that will evolve with them,” says Aran Hamilton, CEO of Vantage. “Melissa brings the operational depth and true retailer experience to help our retail partners implement scalable infrastructure for their continued growth. We’re thrilled to have her leading this team.”

Vantage built its platform and operating model around exactly that reality: simplifying planning and buying, reducing manual workflows, and giving retailers the infrastructure to scale without having to hire. Retail and commerce media network operators on Vantage see operational efficiencies 50% higher than industry benchmarks, an 88% customer satisfaction score, and meaningful increases in self-serve adoption, reducing reliance on managed services as networks mature.

“What stood out to me about Vantage is the clarity of the vision and the focus on helping retailers operationalize retail media in a more sustainable way, leveraging best-in-class technologies and architecture,” said Gallo. “Too often, growth creates fragmentation across planning, activation, measurement, and reporting. Vantage has built a platform that brings those workflows together in a way that is practical for teams actually running the business day to day. I’m excited to help our partners scale with greater consistency, visibility, and confidence.”

Prior to joining Vantage, Gallo served as Executive Director, Head of Client Success at CVS Media Exchange, where she oversaw client insights and strategy, media planning, ad technology operations, and campaign performance and activation. She previously led Global Exchange Operations at Yieldmo and ran Revenue Operations at Walmart Connect, supporting campaign performance, technical operations, and advertiser teams globally. Earlier in her career, she contributed to industry standards at IAB Tech Lab, including OpenRTB and OpenDirect. Gallo has also been recognized with multiple industry accolades, including receiving the P2PI Women of Excellence Award (2024) and being named a Top Woman in Media and Ad Tech by AdMonsters and AdExchanger (2025).

“Melissa is one of the most consequential operators in retail media,” says Drew Cashmore, Chief Strategy Officer at Vantage and former Walmart Connect executive. “She has expertly built the operational foundations behind some of the industry’s leading networks. Melissa understands what it truly takes to operate retail media from within a larger retail organization. Having her lead our customer organization is a defining moment for Vantage, and a signal to our partners about the operational rigor and expertise they can expect from our team, from planning through to implementation and scaling ongoing operations.”

As commerce and retail media teams demand more from technology solutions, Vantage created this role to offer retailers a true best-in-class partnership. The Vantage platform powers more than $550 million in retail media investment annually and supports more than 15,000 active, concurrent campaigns. Gallo's appointment gives Vantage the operational leadership to scale performance further, and deliver the execution quality that retail partners depend on.

About Vantage

Vantage is the operating system that enterprise retailers rely on to run and scale profitable retail media networks.

Vantage connects systems and workflows to coordinate campaign execution, measurement, and advertiser collaboration across onsite, offsite, and in-store media, reducing operational complexity and lowering the cost to operate as demand and expectations grow.

Built by seasoned retail media operators and proven at enterprise scale, Vantage is trusted by leading global retailers, including The Home Depot, and supports retail media programs worldwide.

For more information, visit gotvantage.com. 

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