Tom Laband

Tom Laband is best known as the founder and CEO of Chalice Custom Algorithms, a company he built to solve a fundamental limitation in programmatic advertising: the inability of standard DSP bidding logic to accommodate the nuanced, business-specific optimization goals of sophisticated advertisers. By offering custom algorithm development as a managed service, Laband carved out a distinctive niche in the AdTech ecosystem, enabling brands and agencies to deploy machine learning models tailored precisely to their KPIs rather than relying on opaque, platform-native optimization tools. Chalice integrates directly with major DSPs, giving buyers a level of algorithmic transparency and control that is rare in the industry. Under Laband's leadership, Chalice has become a recognized technical innovator in the programmatic space, working with agencies and brands to build and deploy custom bidding algorithms at scale. His approach reflects a broader industry trend toward algorithmic accountability and advertiser control, positioning Chalice as a counterweight to the opacity often associated with walled garden and platform-default optimization. Laband brings hands-on expertise in machine learning applied to media buying and has been an active voice in industry conversations around custom bidding, algorithmic transparency, and the evolving role of data science in programmatic. Laband's work sits at the intersection of engineering and media strategy, making him a notable operator-innovator in the modern AdTech landscape. He has spoken at industry events and contributed to conversations about how advertisers can reclaim control over their programmatic investments through bespoke algorithmic solutions, a topic of growing relevance as platform opacity and signal loss reshape the digital advertising ecosystem.

• Founded Chalice Custom Algorithms, creating a new category of custom algorithm-as-a-service for programmatic advertising
• Enabled brands and agencies to deploy proprietary machine learning bidding models integrated directly with major DSPs
• Positioned Chalice as a recognized technical innovator in algorithmic transparency and advertiser control within the programmatic ecosystem