Missy Ward

Missy Ward began her career in marketing in 1988, doing paste‑ups for print layouts. She advanced to become VP of Marketing for a Florida startup, and in 1999 was tasked with building that company’s affiliate program, teaching herself affiliate marketing from scratch before blogs or guides existed. She later worked as an affiliate manager for merchants and networks, and as an affiliate herself.

In 2003, after frustrated conversations with Shawn Collins at an Affiliate Force cruise, Ward co‑founded the Affiliate Summit trade show and conference. The first event took place in November 2003 at Baruch College in New York City. Over the next 17 years she served as co‑CEO of Affiliate Summit Corporation, which also produced FeedFront Magazine, GeekCast.fm, ReveNews.com, and the annual AffStat industry reports. In 2018, Clarion Events (owner of iGB Affiliate) acquired Affiliate Summit, and Ward remained as co‑CEO until retiring in 2020.

After retiring, Ward launched Skrillgrrrl, LLC, a marketing and private lending company, where she serves as CEO. She continues to speak at industry events and mentor women in business, advocating for gender equality in performance marketing and iGaming.