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Steve Yi

Operator

Steve Yi is the co-founder and CEO of MediaAlpha, a programmatic advertising and customer acquisition platform focused on the insurance industry. He has built MediaAlpha into a leading exchange for insurance carriers and distributors to buy and sell performance-based advertising, connecting consumers shopping for auto, home, health, and life insurance with relevant providers at scale. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2020 under the ticker MAX. Prior to founding MediaAlpha, Yi co-founded Bankrate's insurance division and held roles in online performance marketing, giving him deep expertise in the intersection of financial services, insurance, and digital advertising. His career has been defined by building data-driven, transparent marketplaces that bring programmatic efficiency to verticals traditionally reliant on opaque lead generation. Under Yi's leadership, MediaAlpha has grown to process billions of dollars in insurance advertising spend annually, positioning itself as the dominant programmatic infrastructure layer for insurance customer acquisition in the United States.

Last updated Oct 25, 2026 by ATDb automated enrichment

Role
Co-Founder and CEO
Company
MediaAlpha
Based
Los Angeles, California, United States
Boards
1

AI-drafted from public sources1 source cited

Years in industry
20 years

Bio

Steve Yi is the co-founder and CEO of MediaAlpha, a programmatic advertising and customer acquisition platform focused on the insurance industry. He has built MediaAlpha into a leading exchange for insurance carriers and distributors to buy and sell performance-based advertising, connecting consumers shopping for auto, home, health, and life insurance with relevant providers at scale. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2020 under the ticker MAX. Prior to founding MediaAlpha, Yi co-founded Bankrate's insurance division and held roles in online performance marketing, giving him deep expertise in the intersection of financial services, insurance, and digital advertising. His career has been defined by building data-driven, transparent marketplaces that bring programmatic efficiency to verticals traditionally reliant on opaque lead generation. Under Yi's leadership, MediaAlpha has grown to process billions of dollars in insurance advertising spend annually, positioning itself as the dominant programmatic infrastructure layer for insurance customer acquisition in the United States.

Expertise & education

Expertise

Programmatic AdvertisingPerformance MarketingInsurance Vertical AdvertisingCustomer AcquisitionAdTech MarketplacesLead GenerationDigital Media BuyingFinancial Services Marketing

Education

  • BA, University of California, Berkeley

Speaking topics

Programmatic advertising in vertical marketsInsurance customer acquisitionPerformance-based advertising marketplacesAdTech transparency and data-driven media buying

Recognition

Notable achievements

  • Co-founded MediaAlpha and led the company to a successful NYSE IPO in October 2020 (ticker: MAX)
  • Built MediaAlpha into a platform processing billions of dollars in insurance advertising spend annually
  • Pioneered programmatic advertising infrastructure specifically for the insurance customer acquisition market