Doug Ahlers

Doug Ahlers

Shorenstein Fellowship
Spring 2005

Doug Ahlers is the co-founder of Modem Media, an interactive advertising and marketing agency. He has been involved in the development and deployment of online services from the first experiments with interactive technology through the explosion of the Internet as a mass medium. Mr. Ahlers helped build the first online shopping site and the first online travel site. He also built the first commercial website on the Internet and created the first banner ad to appear on the Internet. Through his work at Modem Media, Ahlers created comprehensive Internet strategies for Fortune 500 companies. Modem Media subsidiary Poppe Tyson created the first website for the White House and also created the spin-off company DoubleClick, Inc. After the sale of Modem Media, Mr. Ahlers started two venture capital firms in the technology arena. He received his master’s degree in journalism at Louisiana State University in 1983. While at the Shorenstein Center, he worked on a book that examined the societal and political impact of new technologies.