When Campaign Asia-Pacific selects its annual 40 Under 40 list, they look for trailblazers who exhibit a rare mix of execution, discipline, and an unwavering desire to elevate the people around them. Serena Gao, our Country Manager for Thailand and Southeast Asia, embodies exactly that, which is why we’re incredibly proud to celebrate her official win this year!
Serena’s recognition is a direct reflection of a simple truth: some leaders see targets on a map, and others see people, culture, and potential.
More than a personal milestone, this award shines a light on the high-trust, high-impact regional culture she has built, proving that hyper-growth and human-centric leadership can coexist.
Here, we’re sharing a look at Serena’s award-winning approach.
Ditching corporate silos for “Strike Teams”
When Serena took over the Southeast Asia region at Taboola, she knew treating a complex region of multiple languages and infrastructures as a one-size-fits-all market wouldn’t work. To rewrite the traditional regional playbook completely, she pulled from a unique toolkit: her strategic foundation from a Thunderbird Global MBA combined with years of hyper-growth experience at Uber and ByteDance.
Applying those lessons, she dismantled rigid hierarchies and replaced them with “Strike Teams”—small, highly autonomous, mission-driven units engineered to handle specific local challenges. By giving individuals absolute trust and the freedom to make quick decisions without slow corporate approval chains, her team successfully navigated vastly different regulatory and media landscapes simultaneously.
That high-agency environment translated directly into unprecedented market share growth in just twelve months:
- Singapore: Skyrocketed from 10% to 85% market share.
- Thailand: Captured 100% of the digital publisher ecosystem, fully displacing the incumbent competitor.
- Malaysia: Grew regional presence from 40% to 70% market share.
This operational shift was so effective that it quickly caught the attention of global leadership as a blueprint for modern tech expansion:
“Serena represents the kind of leader global technology companies need. In SEA, she has built a high-performing business and a team capable of navigating the region’s unique cultural landscape… She is deeply committed to mentoring local talent, creating opportunities for her team to take ownership while fostering a collaborative environment.”
– Chanan Fogel, VP APAC.
A culture where everyone wins
For Serena, leadership isn’t just about hitting quarterly targets; it is about building a resilient ecosystem of talent equipped to build borderless careers. She invests significant time developing emerging professionals from multicultural and non-traditional backgrounds, pushing them to take true ownership.
And the incredible impact? Every single regional team member with more than one year of tenure swept the sales awards at the 2026 Sales Kick-off in Bangkok—an unprecedented achievement in our regional history!
“Serena is one of the most impressive leaders I’ve worked with in the regional adtech space. She has an outstanding ability to build trusted relationships across the industry and to bring people together in a way that creates real business and long-term value. Beyond her strong market knowledge and execution discipline, what makes her especially deserving of this recognition is the depth of her experience and the maturity of her perspective, both of which go far beyond her years. She contributes meaningfully not only to her own company’s success, but also to the strength of the wider adtech ecosystem.”
— Ronen Mense, President & Managing Director APAC, AppsFlyer.
High performance meets real well-being
Having personally navigated the intense pressure of hyper-growth tech environments earlier in her career, Serena advocates fiercely for sustainable performance. She entirely rejects the idea that you have to burn out to build a world-class career.
As a certified Pilates instructor, she fosters mental clarity and mutual trust through informal “third spaces” like Padel and Pickleball matches with her team and industry peers.
This focus on sustainable growth is a major reason why our Thailand office has been certified as a Great Place to Work for two consecutive years, with 80% of Taboolars explicitly noting that they are genuinely encouraged to balance their professional and personal lives.
Diversity is a strategy
Operating in Southeast Asia means navigating immense cultural complexity. Serena recognized early on that a monolithic team would be an operational liability. True regional understanding, AKA the “secret sauce” of sustainable expansion, can only emerge from a workforce that reflects the diverse markets it serves.
She intentionally built a multicultural regional team spanning multiple nationalities and professional backgrounds. This diversity directly drives daily operations, giving the team the cultural fluency needed to handle Malaysia’s multi-ethnic media ecosystem, Thailand’s distinct digital infrastructure; and Singapore’s institutional advertising environment simultaneously.
By actively hiring and championing professionals with non-linear career paths, she is actively reconstructing the traditional executive mold in the technology sector.
Protecting the open web
Beyond the metrics, Serena is driven by a deep conviction that credible, independent journalism is essential infrastructure for society. She works tirelessly to help publishers monetize and thrive in an era dominated by walled tech monopolies.
From launching generative AI solutions with the Bangkok Post to securing a landmark partnership with SPH Media (reaching 86% of Singapore’s population weekly), Serena is actively shaping how digital media operates.
For her, this commitment to equity doesn’t stop with media infrastructure, it extends directly to the communities technology often leaves behind. She actively supports rural education development along the Thai-Myanmar border through the iCare Thailand Foundation, helping expand the pipeline of future talent who may one day participate in the digital economy.
“We are constantly exploring innovative ways to strengthen our digital offerings and deepen audience engagement. Taboola’s advanced AI capabilities and strong roadmap for publisher innovation made them a natural partner. Serena has been the architect of this partnership from the very first conversation. Her strategic vision, her understanding of what publishers truly need, and her belief in the enduring value of trusted journalism have been instrumental to our collaboration.”
— Kuek Yu Chuang, Deputy CEO, SPH Media.
Ready to realize your potential with us?
Serena’s well-deserved recognition is a perfect example of what happens when you combine global ambition with hyper-local empathy. More than growing a business, she reimagined how a modern tech team should operate.
Congratulations, Serena! Thank you for everything you’ve been doing to make the Taboola Life culture what it is!
Ready to realize your potential on a team that values agility, diversity, and impact? Explore the Taboola Life blog and our career opportunities across the APAC region.
