Simpli.fi Appoints Cali Tran as New Chief Executive Officer to Spearhead Next Phase of Growth and Innovation; Founder Frost Prioleau Transitions to Executive Chairman
Fort Worth, TX – June 11, 2025 – Simpli.fi, the Advertising Success Platform providing programmatic advertising and workflow software to agencies, brands, and media companies, today announced the appointment of Cali Tran as its new Chief Executive Officer. Cali will officially assume this role on June 16, 2025. This strategic move, part of a well-planned succession process, positions Simpli.fi for continued growth and success. Founder & CEO, Frost Prioleau will transition to the role of Executive Chairman.
Frost Prioleau, who led Simpli.fi’s significant growth over the past 15 years, expressed immense pride in the team’s achievements and emphasized the importance of bringing in fresh perspectives to foster continued innovation.
“Over the past several months, I have been working closely with the Board on succession planning to ensure a seamless transition and continued success for Simpli.fi, our employees, clients, and investors,” said Frost. “I am incredibly proud of everything the team has accomplished. Looking ahead, I believe Cali’s unique experience in scaling businesses and driving transformative growth is a perfect fit for leading Simpli.fi into its next chapter. I am thrilled to welcome Cali as our new CEO and look forward to supporting him and the entire team in my new role as Executive Chairman.”
Cali brings a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of the media, advertising and digital marketing landscapes to Simpli.fi. Most recently, he was CEO of Cision, and has also held senior leadership roles at industry-leading companies such as Valassis and Centerfield. At Valassis, Cali authored the strategy and led the transformation of the $2BN marketing services company back to growth primarily by driving 5x digital revenue expansion by revamping the product portfolio and go to market efforts, while simultaneously improving gross margin through the modernization of business operations. Earlier in his career, he was a venture investor at North Bridge Venture Partners and an early team member of Ancestry. He earned his AB in History, Cum Laude, from Bowdoin College and his MBA from Harvard Business School.
Cali’s varied experiences have provided him with firsthand insight into the transformative power of Simpli.fi’s solutions in enabling small and medium-sized businesses to achieve advertising success like that of larger corporations.
“I am incredibly excited to join Simpli.fi, a world-class advertising technology company that is truly democratizing advertising,” said Cali. “Having witnessed the impact of Simpli.fi’s innovative solutions in the local advertising space, I am deeply impressed by the company’s culture of innovation, spirit of collaboration, and strong employee commitment. The success achieved over the past 15 years is a testament to the hard work and dedication of this team, and I am excited to build upon this strong foundation. I want to thank Frost not only for his vision and leadership at Simpli.fi, but also for his support during this transition. I look forward to working closely with him as Executive Chairman.”
This transition underscores Simpli.fi’s commitment to strategic planning and its focus on long-term growth and innovation. The combined experience of Cali along with that of Frost and a well-established Board of Directors, will be instrumental in leading Simpli.fi into its next phase of growth.
About Simpli.fi
Simpli.fi is the leading Advertising Success Platform, providing programmatic advertising solutions and workflow software to over 2,000 media teams, agencies, and brands. Simpli.fi empowers advertisers to maximize relevance in what they do, in the connections made, and in the results delivered across CTV, mobile, display, and other media types. Our platform delivers performance on budgets of all sizes, executing over 140,000 campaigns for 40,000 advertisers in a typical month. Simpli.fi’s investors include leading private equity firms Blackstone and GTCR. To learn more about Simpli.fi, please visit Simpli.fi,
Media Contact
simpli.fi@allisonworldwide.com
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