CEO appointment to capitalize on growing enterprise need for AI-ready data infrastructure

MetaRouter, the leader in enterprise-grade customer data infrastructure, announced that Nikhil Raj, current President of MetaRouter, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. The transition signifies an important step for the company as it enters its next phase of growth, focusing on helping companies navigate AI transformation through robust data infrastructure.

Enterprises face tremendous pressure to use consumer data in a privacy-safe and consented manner for marketing and AI use cases. However, it is neither easy nor affordable for companies to build the infrastructure to do so. MetaRouter enables enterprises to collect and distribute privacy-safe, consent-enforced data within their private cloud, to drive marketing and growth. Retailers and other consumer businesses are launching media businesses that need this consented user data in real time, a key aspect of the MetaRouter offering. Marketing teams leverage MetaRouter to drive growth while exercising complete data control across AI labs & media platforms.

As he steps into this role, Nikhil brings over two decades of experience in retail media, data and consumer technology underpinned by machine learning. He co-founded Walmart’s ads business, WMX (now Walmart Connect) by solving problems around consumer data, privacy and compliance in advertising. He launched and led the global retail media practice at Bain, and also advised several large global PE funds on adtech acquisitions. At Moloco, he helped transform their commerce media business from the leader in Korea to a global operation serving customers across North America, APAC and Europe. He brings these experiences to MetaRouter to help customers turn their first-party data into a true competitive advantage.

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With three of the top 10 U.S. retailers already relying on MetaRouter, the company is expanding into other consumer verticals like CPG, financial services, travel and hospitality. Nikhil’s priorities as CEO will center on expanding MetaRouter’s data infrastructure capabilities into the AI world, and enabling enterprises to leverage real-time data for personalization, marketing and media.

“The MetaRouter team has built an incredible culture and team that has established trust with the largest enterprise customers,” said Nikhil Raj, CEO of MetaRouter. “MetaRouter has enabled several Fortune 100 enterprises to take control of their customer data. It is an absolute honor and privilege to have the opportunity to partner with Tim and the rest of the team to take MetaRouter to the next level.”

“When considering how to maximize our probability of success as we scale, Nikhil stepping into this role was the obvious answer,” said Tim Brunk, co-founder of MetaRouter. “What’s powerful is how Nikhil’s journey is MetaRouter — his time at Walmart, Bain, and Moloco has shaped the very approach we take to building secure data infrastructure. In fact, we used his work at Walmart as a case study long before we met him! His background is woven into everything we do, creating a clear vision for how we help enterprises make the most of their data.”

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Brunk, the former CEO who co-founded MetaRouter alongside Greg Brunk, Andrew Murray, Michael Yeager and Roxana Cristea, will remain engaged with the company in a founder role. Over the past two decades, Tim has launched multiple tech ventures, from building data-driven tools for fashion and analytics at Cladwell and Astronomer to creating startup accelerator programs at Ocean. This experience gives him a unique perspective on growth and operations, which he will now channel into broader advocacy in the market and relationship building at MetaRouter, while Nikhil leads the company into its next phase.