Bezos steps down as Amazon CEO, replaced by Jassy
Amazon has announced that its Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Bezos, will step down after 27 years. He will become Executive Chairman and be replaced as CEO by Andy Jassy in the third quarter of this year.

“Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and it’s consuming. When you have a responsibility like that, it’s hard to put attention on anything else,” said Bezos in a letter to Amazon employees. “As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions. I’ve never had more energy, and this isn’t about retiring. I’m super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have.”

Jassy has been at Amazon since 1997 and founded Amazon Web Services (AWS), with a team of 57 people, in 2003. In 2016, he was promoted from Senior Vice President to CEO of AWS.

Reprise appoints Hawking as UK CEO
Chloe Hawking has been hired as UK & Ireland Chief Executive Officer for IPG Mediabrands’ performance media marketing agency, Reprise. She will join the agency in the coming months and report to Mediabrands UK & Ireland CEO Richard Morris, while also joining Reprise’s EMEA leadership team under EMEA President Jimmy Schougaard.

Hawking will arrive from PHD Global, where she held the role of Chief Digital Officer. In the past three years, she has been pivotal to PHD’s digital acceleration, working with clients including Volkswagen, Audi, HSBC, Bayer, Diageo, Porsche, and Hewlett Packard. Before PHD, she held a number of digital leadership roles across a number of media and digital agencies in the UK and Australia.

“I am thrilled to be joining Reprise and the wider Mediabrands group at such an exciting time. Reprise is perfectly positioned to help their clients grow through this era of digital disruption and eCommerce acceleration,” said Hawking. “Their breadth of capabilities across performance content, media and experience management are the keystone of a new age performance agency and one of the many reasons I am excited to join. I am looking forward to applying my experience in building innovative digital services, unified teams and growth solutions for clients in this new role. I can’t wait to work with the talented team across the UK and their impressive clients.”

Boone takes charge of HR at eBay
eBay has recruited Cornelius Boone as its Senior Vice President, Chief People Officer. He will be responsible for all aspects of human resources across the eCommerce company, driving business performance, talent development and acquisition, learning and development, compensation, benefits, HR shared services, and people tools and technologies.

Boone most recently oversaw the people functions for American Airlines Group, where he was responsible for expanding and improving the diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Before American Airlines, he was Vice President of Field Hourly Talent Management at Walmart.

“I am thrilled to join the eBay team,” said Boone. “eBay has one of the strongest, purpose-driven, cultures I’ve encountered and their desire and drive to create economic opportunity for all is truly an inspiration.”

Incubeta hires two to boost ad tech
Zoe Hall and Lauren Stearley have joined Incubeta, a digital marketing services group, as Managing Director of Adtech Solutions and Director of Programmatic respectively. Hall will drive technological innovation and advancement across the agency’s ad tech services, while Stearley will lead the expansion of Incubeta’s programmatic media offering including display, video, and connected TV.

Before joining Incubeta, Hall was instrumental in launching early-stage investment platform Antler, where she worked as Director of Marketing. Prior to this, she was Senior Expertise & Innovation Manager at Fifty-Five, where she expanded and led the analytics departments.

“I’m thrilled to be joining Incubeta and to have the opportunity to apply my expertise to boost the product development at Incubeta,” commented Hall. “The company has continued to grow and innovate during one of the most challenging times for businesses across the globe. I look forward to working with the entire team and being a part of an organization which is a pioneer in the integrated marketing space.”

Stearley arrives at Incubeta from Starcom, where she was Acquisition Marketing Lead. Here, she led on acquisition, while being responsible for developing and implementing strategy across search, social, and programmatic. Before Starcom, she held roles at MediaMath and Index Exchange.

“I’m excited to join a company which is growing so rapidly and providing such outstanding service to its clients,” Stearley added. “With my holistic understanding of the sell-side and buy-side, coupled with my knowledge of acquisition marketing, I’m looking forward to helping Incubeta take its programmatic offering to the next level.”

Sturgeon takes lead on brand and marketing ROI at Kantar
Insights and consulting firm Kantar has chosen Paul Sturgeon as its ROI Analytics Consulting Lead. Leading brand and marketing return on investment, he will support global and UK-based projects.

Sturgeon has 20 years’ experience in marketing analysis and consultancy and, until recently, led Mindshare UK’s data science team. Prior to that, he held senior roles at MediaCom and PwC. Sturgeon is also a member of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) Value of Media Committee.

“Paul is a fantastic addition to our team as we see increasing appetite among our clients for intelligent and focused guidance around ROI,” said Amy Cashman, CEO of the UK & Ireland Insights Division at Kantar. “Marketing budgets have been under pressure for some time, with COVID-19 accelerating that trend.  Now more than ever they need to make their investment go further, and be able to demonstrate to boards how vitally important their activity is for driving sustained brand growth.  Success will require a level of insight which can help them to pinpoint where they need to focus and build effective, creative campaigns that generate sales now, and create long-lasting consumer demand.”

Silverbean appoints Beeskow Blay to lead US expansion
Sarah Beeskow Blay has been named Vice President North America at Silverbean, an affiliate and partner marketing agency, as part of its expansion into the US. She will focus on building the agency’s business in the well-established US and Canadian market, as well as helping to hire the right talent and delivering an outstanding customer experience.

Beeskow Blay has extensive experience in the affiliate marketing sector having held previous leadership roles at Awin Global and ShareASale.

“I’m thrilled to be joining the stellar team at Silverbean. As global e-commerce continues to experience exponential growth, we’re seeing increased demand from brands in North American with a desire to expand their reach to new regions. I’m excited to be a part of the solution in providing these brands with an exceptional service option to further grow their marketing efforts,” said Beeskow Blay.

“Silverbean is in a class of its own with established footing and unparalleled reach across Europe and APAC to help brands achieve their partnership marketing goals.”

In addition to Beeskow Blay’s appointment, Louise James has been promoted from Head of Affiliate Marketing to Global Associate Director. She will work closely with Beeskow Blay and Silverbean Associate Director for Australia, Annabel Grey, to ensure clients have an integrated approach for their global strategy and implementation.

Clayton takes up solutions officer gig at Mindshare
WPP’s Mindshare USA has brought in Sean Clayton as Executive Director, Solutions Officer. He will be responsible for architecting new client solutions, integrating the best data, technology, and analytics products and capabilities across Mindshare, GroupM, and the wider WPP organisation.

Clayton brings more than 15 years of experience across data science, media, and consulting to this role. Most recently, he was the Co-founder of Myosin. Here, he led holistic data and targeting initiatives for a range of Fortune 500 brands across fintech, fitness, healthcare, retail, and eCommerce, as well as major distributors in the entertainment industry. Prior to that, he was Chief Strategy Officer and President of the Entertainment Division at SITO Mobile.

“Marketers cant ignore the rapid changes that our industry is going through, especially in the data and analytics space. There is just too much at stake,” said Clayton. “Im excited to join Mindshare because theyve shown that they will run towards the disruption, and push their clients and the industry to think ahead and work proactively.”

Born Social hires duo on back of management buyout
Hannah Wolff and Harry Fishwick have joined social media agency Born Social as Head of Social Media Management and Head of Creative respectively.

Wolff joins from Three UK, where she was lead creative in the social and PR team, while Fishwick arrives from his role as Video Marketing Manager at TUI. They join a team that includes Essi Nurminen and Kate Higham, who have been promoted to Head of Strategy and Head of Operations respectively, and Head of New Business and Marketing Ed Knights.

A management buyout has left Born Social’s six-strong leadership team with a 75 per cent share of the business. The company’s founders, Rob O’Donovan and Ben Gateley, will retain a 25 per cent stake but will no longer sit on the board.

“Since day one we’ve been a people-focused business and the creation of our Heads of team and internal leadership development programme allows us to continue along that path in a time where wellbeing and work satisfaction are being challenged by the ongoing pandemic” said Ben Tyson, CEO and Partner at Born Social “And this investment in building the next generation of leaders at Born Social is testament to the strength of our clients and teams. We now have an exceptional team in place to help drive the next phase of the business.”

Schmaier named President at Salesforce
Salesforce has selected David Schmaier as its President and Chief Product Officer. He will lead Salesforce’s global product team, strategy, and vision having joined the company through its acquisition of Vlocity.

Schmaier has over three decades of experience building cloud, CRM, and industry-specific vertical software companies as an executive, entrepreneur, board member, and investor.

“Salesforce is an incredible company,” said Schmaier. “I’ve been fortunate enough to experience this first-hand as a customer, a partner, and now a member of the team. I’ve been an admirer of Salesforce since the early days, and the things I admired then are still true now: we have the best products, we define the cloud and other technology shifts like mobile and AI, and we have a trailblazing leadership team, led by Marc [Benioff], whom I’ve known since early in my career.”

Colt turns to Voltolini on strategy
Mirko Voltolini has been named Vice President of Strategy and Innovation at telecoms firm Colt Technology Services. In the newly created role, he will seek to underpin the company’s product capabilities with innovation and the latest emerging technologies in order to ensure Colt remains an industry leader.

Voltolini was previously Head of Network On Demand at Colt – a role where he oversaw the development of the company’s on-demand platform and drove the development and delivery of its online digital customer experience offering. Voltolini also sits on the MEF board.

“I feel very privileged to be taking on this new role,” said Voltolini. “Seeing both Colt and the industry evolve and innovate has been something I have always been passionate about, and I feel this next period will be particularly exciting for our sector. The way Keri [Gilder] has structured our organisation primes us to be ready to assist enterprises as they prepare for their next wave of growth, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”  

Mistry joins Lab as CFO
Lab Group, a collection of digital marketing, technology, and creative services agencies, has appointed Amar Mistry as Group Chief Financial Officer. Reporting to CEO Jonny Tooze, he will be responsible for ensuring the business has good financial reporting and governance, assessing the financing needs of the business and looking at investment to support the growth plans and developing a new phase of the group’s agency acquisition strategy.

Mistry arrives from Myriad Global, where he supported the business globally with its continued growth, helped to secure new funding and assisted with the expansion of the executive team throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. He has previously held positions at Vida Care, E2V, Brash Brands, and Konica Minolta.

“It’s safe to say that I am thrilled to be joining the business at such an exciting time,” said Mistry. “During a period where it would be easy to narrow focus and just survive it is inspiring to see a business with such intention and ambition. I have been really impressed with how the team have maintained humour and goodwill during challenging times, it really is a testament to the strength of the team. I very much look forward to bringing my expertise in financial management, financing and inorganic growth to the team.”

Glassbox names Zaheer CMO
Asim Zaheer has been hired as Chief Marketing Officer at Glassbox, a digital experience analytics provider. He will be responsible for expanding Glassbox’s commercial reach, penetrating new market verticals with the aim of doubling digital market share while also implementing a new brand and marketing strategy for the company.

Zaheer joins the company from Hitachi, where he served as CMO, helping to lead a multibillion-dollar portfolio of data infrastructure, analytics, cloud, and IoT solutions for Hitachi Vantara and Hitachi Data Systems. Before that, he held marketing leadership positions at companies including Archivas and Storability.

“I am thrilled to be joining a high-growth company that sits at the forefront of consumer experience innovations,” said Zaheer. “Glassbox is packed with talented individuals who are fundamentally changing how companies approach and interact with their customers, paving the way for a truly seamless customer experience. I cannot wait to contribute towards their mission and cement Glassbox’s position as leaders in a constantly evolving market.”

Ducker recruited to bolster Journey Further’s creative
Journey Further, a performance marketing agency, has hired Ben Ducker as its Executive Creative Director. He will provide a deep understanding of the traditional creative agency approach to brand advertising and combine it with existing data capabilities to create a performance-led and highly measurable approach to brand marketing.

Ducker has previously worked for VCCP and Fold7, as well as running his own production company, where he wrote and shot campaigns for brands including Carlsberg, O2, Diageo, Microsoft, EasyJet, and more.

“The industry and world is changing quickly, so I was looking to join a fast moving company that can keep up with the pace. The rebellious yet transparent mindset of Matt [Kwiecinski] and Robin [Skidmore] is what attracted me to joining the team, and I can see no better environment in which to create the future of advertising, where data meets creative for true engagement,” said Ducker.

“It’s refreshing to be calling out the ways of the past and exciting to develop a creative agency model that’s able to deliver on imagination and insight equally.”

Octopus recruits trio of advisors
Jack Randall, Dan Thomas, and Dave Kupiec have all been enlisted as Senior Advisors at Octopus Interactive, which provides a network of interactive screens inside Uber and lyft vehicles. The new recruits will be responsible for developing marketing partnerships with top brands to run on Octopus Interactive’s network of over 15,000 screens in rideshare vehicles generating over 60m monthly impressions of saleable inventory.

Randall spent 20 years at Univision, most recently as EVP of Business Development, before acting as Chief Commercial Officer at CivicScience.

Thomas joins Octopus from Active Media, where he was SVP of Strategic Development after senior leadership stints at NCM, Univision, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Kupiec is engaging with Octopus as part of his new consultancy venture, KPI Media Partners, after more than 30 years in media sales and publishing, featuring leadership roles at NCM, Wenner Media, and Conde Nast.

“As the economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, people are going out again and rideshare is seeing a strong rebound,” said Cherian Thomas, CEO of Octopus Interactive. “There is light at the end of this tunnel with the prospect of widespread vaccination, and we brought these three industry leaders on board because they have the established expertise and track record to turbocharge our business development in the coming months.”

Tober shifts role at Searchmetrics
Digital marketing analytics provider Searchmetrics has announced that its Founder, Marcus Tober, has taken up a new position as Founder and Chief Evangelist at the company.

Tober, who founded Searchmetrics in 2005, will lead Searchmetrics’ external push to explain the value that SEO can deliver and how it needs to develop in the future. Internally, he will play a cross-departmental strategic role advocating for the needs of SEO.

“When I founded Searchmetrics in 2005, things looked very different but, at the same time, I still feel that SEO has quite a long way to go,” said Tober. “Comparing the effort that businesses put into other digital marketing channels with what they commit to SEO, there’s still a large disparity. For example, companies spend multi-millions on paid search but barely consider SEO. I’ve long been an advocate for SEO, of course, but I see now an opportunity to really increase its’ importance and for Searchmetrics to lead the charge to grow the discipline.”

Alfonica opts for Fawcett to direct on sales
Scott Fawcett has been appointed Sales Director at Rose Communications Group’s B2B telecoms arm, Alfonica. He will work closely with Alfonica’s Mobile, Voice and Data teams and be responsible for the strategic leadership of the sales function within the business, while contributing to overall growth strategy.

Fawcett has 20 years of experience in the B2B telecoms market. He started his career at Genesis Communications and has since held a variety of sales leadership roles at FLR Spectron, Annodata, and IP Solutions.

“I am really excited to be joining the leadership team at Alfonica, opportunities like this don’t come along that often. Alfonica, part of the Rose Communications Group, has already proven itself as one of the most innovative and respected companies in the telecoms sector,” commented Fawcett. “I am looking forward to helping develop the business and its B2B propositions that will benefit our customers in these difficult economic times. My aim is to realise the potential of this fast-growing company, with its incredible reputation for customer service and technical capability, to help us engage new audiences and demonstrate the critical role of effective business communications and collaboration tools to help our clients deliver a greater overall end customer experience.”

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Netflix makes Sarandos joint boss
Ted Sarandos has been handed the role of Co-Chief Executive Officer, while also being elected to the board of directors, at Netflix. He will continue as Chief Content Officer alongside his new roles. At the same time, Greg Peters has added the role of Chief Operating Officer to his position as Chief Product Officer.

Sarandos has been at Netflix for more than 20 years, joining the company after meeting CEO Reed Hastings in 1999. His role in charge of content means he has overseen the success that Netflix has had with original programming such as Orange is the New Black, Narcos, and Stranger Things.

“I’m excited and honoured to have been appointed co-CEO of Netflix,” said Sarandos. “When Reed and I first met over 20 years ago, he described Netflix almost exactly as it now works. But at the time, I was sceptical. The Internet was still new and Netflixs main competitor, Blockbuster, was huge and had completely disrupted the business model of my previous company. Part of Reeds brilliance is his persistence and so I eventually said yes, back in 1999.”

Macias to lead creative at Snap
Snap has appointed Leo Macias as its Head of Global Creative. In the newly created position, Macias will report to Chief Marketing Officer Kenny Mitchell and be responsible for leading Snap’s creative team supporting the company’s brand, consumer and business marketing efforts globally.

Macias most recently served as CCO for Laundry Service, covering the US and Latin America. He has previously worked at Ogilvy, Publicis Group, Havas, and DDB.

“Leo is a world-class creative and talent in our industry,” said Mitchell. “Were thrilled to welcome Leo on board to help us showcase the creativity of Snapchat and our platform.”

Zynga gives board seat to Watson
Noel Watson has joined the board of social game developer Zynga as an independent director. He becomes the ninth member of Zynga’s board of directors.

Watson is currently Chief Financial Officer at TrueCar, where he leads financial operations including accounting and investor relations. He began his career as a certified public accountant at Arthur Andersen before moving on to ArrAy and Way Systems. He then moved on to TripAdvisor before arriving at TrueCar.

“I am excited to be joining Zynga’s Board of Directors during this dynamic period of growth for the company in its mission to connect the world through games,” said Watson.  “With the increasing penetration and use of mobile phones, and the more than 2.5bn people globally playing games by the end of 2020, Zynga is incredibly well positioned to be a force in digital entertainment, built around iconic brands and experiences that people love.”

Several leadership changes at The Trade Desk
Ad tech firm The Trade Desk has appointed Tim Sims as its Chief Revenue Officer; Michelle Hulst as Executive Vice President (EVP) of Global Data and Strategy; Matt Goldberg as EVP of Global Operations; Julie Kleeman as Senior Vice President (SVP), Deputy General Counsel; Gruia Pitigoi-Aron as SVP of Product; and Tom Kelly as SVP of Business Development for North America.

Sims, a six-year veteran of The Trade Desk, will be responsible for driving revenue generation and new client acquisition globally. Prior to this role, he served as SVP of Inventory Partnerships. He will continue to manage inventory partnerships as part of his new role.

Hulst was most recently Group Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Partnerships at Oracle Data Cloud. She will report to The Trade Desk’s Co-founder and CEO, Jeff Green.

Goldberg will oversee all aspects of The Trade Desk’s operations, including the company’s rapid geographic expansion. Goldberg joined The Trade Desk in January 2020, following global expansion roles at companies such as NewsCorp, Liberty Interactive/QVC Corp, and Lonely Planet.

Kleeman has been at The Trade Desk since 2016, overseeing a wide range of legal and regulatory affairs. Meanwhile, Pitigoi-Aron, after five years at The Trade Desk, will expand his responsibilities to cover all product development, user experience and enterprise solutions, and Kelly has expanded his role from only covering the US West Coast to covering the entirety of North America.

Channel Factory adds Blake and Janis to team
Rob Blake and Spencer Janis have joined technology and data platform Channel Factory. Blake arrives as UK Country Manager, while Janis has taken up the position of Head of US Holding Company Partnerships – East.

Blake will oversee the operations of Channel Factory in the UK and expand its team whilst furthering the overall mission to help leading global brands and agencies maximise their YouTube advertising. He was previously CRO at Realeyes, helping brands and agencies make better marketing decisions by measuring the data insight in creative execution. He was also CRO for Pocketmath, Commercial Director at MediaMath, and VP of Sales at Partnerize. Prior to this, he also spent five years as VP at AOL Advertising and three years as director of Advertising.com.

“Contextual suitability and maximum performance efficiency has never been more important,” said Blake. “The UK’s digital advertising industry is highly sophisticated and recognises that Channel Factory fosters a suitable digital video ecosystem which connects creators, brands, and consumers, ultimately resulting in massive gains in efficiency of media spend. I am excited to help a number of major brand sincrease their campaign performance.”

Janis will oversee the holding companies and large-scale agencies on the East Coast of the US. He has experience running sales teams within tech and media domestically with companies such as Viacom, Giant Media, and Hotspex, as well as globally with American Express and Financial Times.

“Advertisers on YouTube can leverage Channel Factory’s platform to ensure ads run on brand suitable and contextually relevant content,” added Janis. “With brand safety high on the agenda across the globe, I can’t wait to join the mission to stop wasted spend and ensure quality content throughout the digital ecosystem.”

Duggleby recruited to lead Client Services at Run2
Manchester-based digital marketing agency Run2 has hired Gemma Duggleby as its Head of Client Services. She is tasked with ensuring clear lines of communications across all internal and client teams.

Duggleby has over 10 years of account and project management experience having worked with a variety of blue chip and SME clients across a range of platform and marketing projects.

“I am thrilled to welcome Gemma to the Run2 team and she has already hit the ground running, proving to be an invaluable addition to the agency,” said Phil Birss, Run2 CEO. “I am confident Gemma will thrive in this role as she continues to strengthen her relationship with our clients.”

Medialab creates three Data and Performance leadership roles
Gary Holladay has joined Medialab, a media agency, as Head of Data Solutions, while Tony Oakley becomes Head of Analytics, and Stephen Brett arrives as Head of Performance. In addition to the new hires, Medialab Director of Growth Suzy Jordan has been appointed to the board.

Holladay joins Medialab from Eurostar, where he was Lead Data Architect. He has helped businesses transition from legacy systems to new tech platforms and is an expert at digital data integrations.

Oakley will focus on managing Medialab’s Apollo data marketing platform, while Brett, acing as strategic support for the client teams, will provide support and expertise in maintaining best practice and keeping abreast of industry and tech developments.

Jordan, who joined Medialab a year ago, will play an instrumental role in driving Medialab’s growth agenda and in the company’s development, both commercially and culturally.

“These leadership appointments are a key indicator of our commitment to a long-term growth strategy,” said Marcus Orme, Medialab CEO. “Investment in industry leading talent is, and will be, a key pillar of our continued success, and in doing so we are able to provide the best data driven solutions for our partners. Throughout the pandemic, it has been more important than ever to support client partners and help them gain and grow valuable customers.”

Shah takes seat on Journey Further advisory board
Performance marketing agency Journey Further has announced that Deepa Shah has joined its advisory board as non-executive director. She will work with the agency’s founders, Robin Skidmore, Matt Kwiecinski, and Chris Rowett, focusing on international expansion and supporting the growth of the new consultancy of the business.

Shah, a former Chief Financial Officer at Publicis Sapient and Omnicom-owned Hall & Partners, is currently an active mentor for The British Library and NatWest. Earlier this year, she founded her own management consultancy, Lab Eight.

“I am thrilled to join the Journey Further team during an incredibly exciting period for the company,” said Shah. “I love working with ambitious businesses who see no end to their potential or growth, and Journey Further is certainly one of these.”

TravelPerk chooses Zohar to head up marketing.
Tal Zohar has taken up the role of Chief Marketing Officer at TravelPerk, a global travel management platform. His priorities will include strengthening the marketing function; reaching new markets, industries, and customers; and building on TravelPerk’s position in the business travel management space.

Zohar joins TravelPerk after 10 years in a series of senior roles at Wix.com, including Online Marketing Director and Vice President of Business Analytics and Data Science.

“I am super excited to be joining TravelPerk’s hyper-growth journey, especially in this crazy era for business travel,” said Zohar. “The travel industry needs innovative solutions and change more than ever today and that’s what TravelPerk is committed to delivering. With innovative products like FlexiPerk, which gives travellers the peace of mind to book and change any time with a click of a button, and our personalized risk alerts, TravelPerk is the go-to solution for companies resuming business travel again.

“I’m looking forward to bringing my experience to TravelPerk, and helping to accelerate our growth and our brand.”

Dykyj to lead marketing at SparkPost
SparkPost, an email delivery and analytics engine, has recruited Natalia Dykyj as Vice President and Head of Marketing to spearhead global strategy for corporate, customer, product and partner marketing, ultimately responsible for helping drive profitable growth for the organisation.

Most recently, Dykyj served as VP of Brand Management at Web.com Group, where she led the re-launch of the Web.com brand and the expansion of acquisition marketing programs. Before Web.com, she spent seven years as the VP of Product at Cision, where she was responsible for the strategy, delivery and launch of their global Communications Cloud platform.

“SparkPost’s keen ability to understand the unique challenges of email marketers and deliver the tools that drive their success is due to its ability to meet current needs all the while innovating technology that sets marketers up for the future,” said Dykyj. “Joining this strong team is an honour and I’m excited to use my experience to accelerate and expand SparkPost’s impressive lead in its industry.”

Bray Leino Splash makes four hires
Joshua Lee has been named Managing Director Singapore, Efrain Lopez as Client Services Director Malaysia, Charles Lindquist as Group Chief Technology Officer & General Manager Vietnam, and Jimmy Yeung as Technical Director China at Bray Leino Splash (BLS), a digital marketing agency.

Lee was formerly Connected Experience Practice Lead at Digitas, while Lopez was Head of Innovation at Maven Road. Lindquist was CTO and Business Operations Director (Ford) at VMLY&R and Yeung was Head of Technolgoy at Labbrand.

“We are forward-looking, and we are investing in these key hires to further strengthen the senior management team,” said Lee Kuok Ming, Group CEO at BLS. “Our new slate of talents will enable Bray Leino Splash to become a digital experience agency that effectively uses data, creativity and technology to power our clients’ customer experiences.”

Rumbelow gets top design gig at Safepoint
Lone worker safety solution app Safepoint has appointed Matt Rumbelow as its Head of Design and Marketing. As a co-founder of Safepoint, Rumbelow had been working in the role part-time whilst running his own design and marketing company – he now takes up the post full time.

Rumbelow’s role will continue to involve creating wireframes and mockups with the engineering team; building and upkeeping Safepoints website; creating all informational pieces such as brochures and flyers; overseeing Safepoint’s marketing presence through social media, emails, advertising, blogs; and keeping everything perfectly ‘Safepoint’ through branding, illustrations, styles and tone of voice.

“For two years I juggled my duties as co-founder and director, with a day-time role as a studio designer. With Safepoint’s movements into hardware and 24/7 remote monitoring, as well as a need to liaise with a larger amount of marketing partners, it was clear that I would need to come on full time,” said Rumbelow.

“It’s great to work with a team that really value the importance of good design and marketing. We always say that safety and user experience go hand in hand; after all, there is no point creating a safety platform if no one wants to use it. We have big plans for the future, but at every step of growth, we’re going to make sure that quality and joy is built in.”

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Cheetah names Jones as first CMO
Richard Jones has been appointed chief marketing officer at Cheetah Digital, a cross-channel customer engagement solution provider. He will lead Cheetah’s global marketing efforts of its recently announced Customer Engagement Suite.

Jones was previously chief executive officer at Wayin, which was acquired by Cheetah earlier this year and rebranded as Cheetah Experiences. There, he helped brands to create zero-party data strategies. Brands included Daily Mail Group, NHL, Bauer Media, Vodafone, Priceline.com, Reckitt Benckiser, Air New Zealand, and Manchester City FC. I

In his more than 20 years of marketing, sales, and strategy experience, Jones also co-founded EngageSciences, which merged with Wayin in 2016, and led regional sales for the EMEA team at Eloqua.

“We’re in a new, uncharted era of marketing. With growing privacy regulations and consumers’ oversaturation with marketing messages, brands are looking to cut through the noise and establish more honest, direct and mutually valuable relationships with consumers. However, to do so with authenticity, relevance and accuracy, requires new capabilities,” said Jones. “Cheetah Digital is uniquely positioned to help brands provide a value exchange with consumers through the lifecycle in return for consumer attention, engagement and loyalty. It’s why I was excited to join Cheetah Digital as part of the Wayin acquisition, and continue this mission in my new role.”

Simon to lead revenue at Fyber
Mobile app monetisation platform Fyber has chosen David Simon as its chief revenue officer and global head of revenue operations. He will oversee demand and supply revenues across Fyber’s portfolio of app developer products including Fyber Fairbid.

Prior to joining Fyber, Simon was a partner at Jounce Media, where he focused on developing a blueprint for the programmatic transformation of media companies and marketing organisations. He has also held leadership roles at Verizon Media and AOL, where he led the video syndication business unit.

“The growth opportunity in this industry is truly limitless, but we must remain vigilant against fraud. Brands are awakening to the potential for capturing high-value consumer attention in apps, while also needing assurances on transparency, support and measurement,” said Simon, “I am very excited to work with Fyber in leading this charge – the best-positioned company in the market globally to be able to share data in a completely direct and honest way.” 

Sinch looks to Khandpur on product
Vikram Khandpur has been hired as chief product officer at cloud communications platform Sinch. He will lead his global teams out of Seattle, a location strategically chosen by Sinch to place its product leadership close to some of its largest customers.

Khandpur joins Sinch after spending 13 years at Microsoft. Here, he spearheaded the development and growth of technologies, including Skype and Microsoft Teams. Before that, he held leadership positions at Nokia and Philips Consumer Electronics, as well as founding startups in the mobile apps and gaming space.

“Companies of all sizes across the globe want to deliver smarter and better customer experiences,” commented Khandpur. “There is a massive opportunity for Sinch’s SaaS products to power these interactions across marketing, sales, R&D and customer support departments. The opportunity to work on products that have such a profound impact on the lives of people around the world is a real and rare privilege. I’m excited to get to work.”

Welch hired to direct political clients at SpotX
SpotX, a video advertising and monetisation platform, has recruited Allan Welch to be its director of political & government affairs. Overseeing the company’s political-focused clients, he will report to Geoff Halsema, regional vice president, mid-market, demand facilitation.

Welch will serve as an extension of the Demand facilitation team with a focus on political agencies, super political action committees (PACs), presidential, congressional and advocacy groups, along with non-profit, issues, causes and charity groups.

Before joining SpotX, he held political and government-focused positions at Yahoo! Inc. and Mother Jones, creating advocacy, fundraising, and advertising campaigns.

“As a veteran in the political advertising arena, Im excited to be joining the SpotX team at such a crucial moment in the industry, as we see an exponential increase in advertising on CTV and OTT,” said Welch. “During the 2016 presidential elections, we saw political advertising explode across social media. Today, advertisers are following eyeballs and SpotX, as a leader in online video and CTV/OTT, is particularly primed to advise clients on this shift and support political advertisers to achieve their goals.”

Journey Further selects Burgoyne to take charge of creative
Billy Burgoyne has joined Journey Further, a performance marketing agency, as creative director of its new creative offering. Reporting to managing director Matt Kwiecinski, he will initially be focused on the opportunities with existing clients, providing creative support to increase performance across programmatic, paid social and PR campaigns. 

Burgoyne has previous experience from his roles at B-Reel and Unit9, where he created campaigns for Google, VW, Honda, Three, Adidas, British Airways, Microsoft, Sony, Ford, and Spotify.

“There’s a huge creative opportunity at Journey Further,” said Burgoyne. “Too many creative agencies base their decisions on unsubstantiated opinion and ego, while data-led agencies stifle creativity. Our Clarity at Speed proposition allows us to inform creative briefs with verifiable audience data, delivering high quality, insightful creative that connects on an emotional level.”

Six experts join CAN
The Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) has welcomed six experts from the creative industry to its committee to help its battle against advertising abuse.

The esteemed names that have joined CAN include Ali Hanan, founder and chief executive officer of Creative Equals; Amir Malik, digital marketing expert at Accenture Interactive; Jerry Daykin, head of media EMEA at GSK; Matthew Styles, client services lead at Merkle; Abi Gibbons, internal and external communications expert at ISBA; and Tanya Joseph, a former Marketer of the Year.

“It is truly incredible to have leading voices in the creative industry, from visionary creative pioneers to marketing experts, to communication gurus – brought together by one, clear vision – to fight advertising abuse in the industry they know and love,” commented Jake Dubbins, co-founder of the Conscious Advertising Network. “Our goal at CAN is to battle harmful advertising operations and content in pursuit of making communications that are better for all. The insights and experience our new committee members bring, truly equips the network with tools to highlight these issues and confront them head on.”

Ad-Lib welcomes Abhyankar and Collister
Adit Abhyankar and Patrick Collister have arrived at Ad-Lib, a martech SaaS platform, as chief executive officer and creative director respectively. Both men have joined the company from Google.

Abhyankar, who was head of Google Marketing Platform for Continental Europe and emerging markets, will oversee the next stage of growth and investment in Ad-Lib’s platform, team, and client relationships. Prior to Google, he was executive director at Visual IQ and chief operating officer at SolutionSet.

“Personalising creative the way we personalise media targeting is a huge untapped opportunity, even though it has been proven to drive tremendous value. The reason it is so underutilised is an organisational one – it is simply too clunky and costly to produce high quality, personalised creative across all the profusion of digital formats manually,” said Abhyankar. “Ad-Lib’s AI-driven platform is disrupting the current status quo by making this process faster, cheaper and smarter. I’m thrilled to be joining the stellar team at this pivotal time to further accelerate its impressive growth.”

Collister, who joined Ad-Lib as non-executive director last year, will provide insight and input into the ongoing design of the platform and manage the Ad-Lib design hub. He was head of design at Google Zoo and, before that, held roles as executive creative director and vice chairman at Ogilvy London and chief creative officers at EHS Brann Group.

“Adit and Patrick share Ad-Lib’s vision for saving digital advertising from itself by using AI to both improve personalisation and creative quality,” added Oli-Marlow Thomas, founder and president of Ad-Lib. “We are thrilled to be building out our team with the best talent in the business and the desire of these industry pros to join our company is testament to the true value of the solution we are offering.”

Huettl takes his seat at the CMO Council
The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council has named Manuel Huettl as its senior vice president and regional development officer in Europe. He is asked with collaborating with European advisory and academic liaison boards, as well as developing CMO Council partnerships, relationships, and content distribution channels in the European theatre.

Huettl is currently owner and principal of SugarAndSpice, a digital and content marketing firm, and was previously senior vice president at WE Communications. He is also currently a board member for the European Expert Group for IT Security and has served as a vice president for the German Ice Hockey Federation.

“We are pleased that Manuel is becoming an integral part of the CMO Council,” noted executive director Donovan Neale-May. “He is bringing enormous experience and new perspectives to the table. Manuel served in different influential organisations through his career. With his can-do attitude he will expand the Councils role in Europe.”

MediaSense opts for Bernhardt on strategy
Andrea Bernhardt has been appointed strategy director at MediaSense, an independent media advisor. She will support brands to better maximise media investment and advise on organisational operating models for the consultancy’s global client portfolio.

Bernhardt arrives from Reckitt Benckiser, where she led global media and digital, developing media capabilities and a new integrated media strategy in the areas of media effectiveness, data-driven marketing, and communications. Prior to that, she held director and strategic development roles at WebMD, and drove strategic planning at Mindshare and Zenith. Bernhardt is also a previous member of the World Federation of Advertisers executive committee.

“I’m excited to be joining MediaSense at such a significant and important time in the evolution of 21st century media and marketing transformation,” commented Bernhardt. “MediaSense are leading the way in re-shaping global media operations and I look forward to working across their portfolio of world renowned brands, helping advertisers to future-proof the structure and processes they need to effectively connect with consumers and drive positive impact to their business.” 

Tosi gets a seat on the Skillz board
Skillz, a mobile eSports platform which is backed by the NFL’s investment arm, has added Laurence Tosi to its board of directors.

Tosi previously served as the long-time chief financial officer at Blackstone and, subsequently, Airbnb, where he also led payments, customer service, and corporate development. He is the founder and managing partner of WestCap, which has invested in Skillz.

“Skillz is the disruptive player in the gaming market and is leading a paradigm shift in how mobile games are consumed, developed and monetised,” said Tosi. “With a multi-faceted business model, distinctive for the network effect of its gaming marketplace and proprietary technology platform, Skillz is on track to become one of the great companies of tomorrow.”

SCMP picks Lee to preside over marketing and events
Adrian Lee has been hired as senior vice president of marketing and events at the South China Morning Post (SCMP). Based in Hong Kong, he will lead growth strategies to help build the global brand. His responsibilities include raising brand awareness, increasing traffic to SCMP’s digital platforms, overseeing product and digital marketing, and driving SCMP’s events business.

Lee was previously head of digital client solutions at Wavemaker, where he helped lead the Hong Kong agencys direction, growth, profitability, and people development, as well as directing global marketing campaigns for clients. Before that, he was global digital strategy and innovation director at Vizeum in London, working with clients including Burberry and Honda. Lee also worked at MediaCom in Hong Kong.

“It is an exciting time to join a media company that is leading the global conversation on China, especially with a growing demand for reliable news to understand the global impact of the second-largest economy in the world,” said Lee. “The organisation is full of driven and intelligent people and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to do work that carries real purpose.”

McKenna to head up performance marketing at Blink
Digital health company Blink Health has turned to Gene Mckenna as its head of performance marketing & analytics. He arrives with over 15 years of leadership experience managing marketing, product, and engineering teams.

Most recently, McKenna served as vice president and general manager at Groupon, where he led strategy and oversaw approximately $1bn in annual sales. Prior to that, he was co-founder at Uptake and has also served as vice president of product at Acxiom Digital.

“Blink Health is doing amazing work to ensure that everyone can afford the medications they need to live safe, healthy lives. It’s my job to help spread the company’s message so that every American has an opportunity to lower their drug prices,” said McKenna. “Nobody should struggle to pay for their prescription drugs and I look forward to helping Blink Health make that a reality for everyone.”

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SAP names Morgan and Klein as co-bosses
Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein have been appointed co-chief executive officers at SAP, following Bill McDermott’s decision to step down from his position as CEO.

Morgan, who joined SAP in 2004, most recently served as president of the Cloud Business Group, overseeing Qualtrics, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Ariba, SAP Fieldglass, SAP Customer Experience and SAP Concur. She was named an executive board member in 2017.

“I could not be more grateful to Hasso Plattner and the supervisory board for placing their trust in me and Christian to lead this next chapter for SAP,” said Morgan. “We accept the challenge with a high degree of humility, but also with a sincere belief that the best is yet to come for SAP. We have the finest, most talented colleagues in the world who give us so much confidence in the road ahead. Bill McDermott has been not only a tremendous leader, but a mentor and a role model for so many of us. In Bill, we stand on the shoulders of a giant and look forward to building on his legacy of success.”

Klein, who started his career at SAP two decades ago as a student, most recently served as the company’s chief operating officer, also overseeing product development for the flagship ERP solution SAP S/4HANA. Previously, he worked as SAP SuccessFactors chief financial officer and as SAP chief controlling officer. Klein was appointed to the executive board in 2018.

“As someone who began my career in the halls of SAP, this is the highest honour I can imagine to become co-CEO together with Jennifer. Hasso Plattner has given us a tremendous opportunity and we are truly thankful to him and the supervisory board,” said Klein. “SAP has the most comprehensive solution portfolio in the industry. We have an unprecedented opportunity to finish what we started and deliver the intelligent enterprise. This will be the best way to honor our predecessor, Bill McDermott. We will always strive to be leaders who bring out the best in people like Bill has always done.”

McDermott will remain in an advisory capacity until the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition.

Tessier takes brand lead at MoPub
MoPub, a Twitter-owned mobile exchange, has hired Vincent Tessier as its brand and agency lead EMEA. He brings more than 12 years of experience into his new position from a variety of roles at Universal Music, AOL, Trademob and LaPlaceMedia.

Most recently, Tessier was the general manager EMEA at Adsquare, where he has successfully scaled and transformed the startup into a European market leader in the audience and footfall measurement category, across nine markets and four local offices.

“I am incredibly excited to be joining MoPub at Twitter and look forward to working closely with our brand and agency partners,” said Tessier. “Mobile has been ubiquitous in our lives for some years but only now is its true potential as a media channel being unlocked. I look forward working closely with our brand partners to help them reach their customers programmatically via MoPub, offering access to 45,000 apps and 1.45bn mobile devices globally.”

Leo Burnett selects Avener as MD
Carly Avener has joined Leo Burnett London as managing director. Reporting to chief executive officer Charlie Rudd, she will be in care of the day-to-day running and operations of the agency, working with existing clients including Iceland, McDonald’s, Betfair, and Gulf Oil.

Before joining Leo Burnett London, Avener was at BBH, where she launched and ran the agencys social media specialism and brand experience output working with clients such as Next, Burberry, Mentos, Burger King and Samsung. In 2018, she led Burger King’s brand repositioning and relaunched The Whopper. She also developed the AR immersive experience called Doorways for Samsung in partnership with Family Guy.

Prior to BBH, she worked at McCann Erickson on the Microsoft, American Airlines, and Co-op accounts.

“It’s a really exciting time to be at Leo Burnett right now and I’ve seen the agency go from strength to strength. Their iconic work is famous across the UK and I can’t wait to get started,” commented Avener.

Gold promoted to director of social at Grey
Grey, the advertising network of WPP-owned Grey Group, has elevated Kenny Gold to senior vice president, director of social media for Grey North America. Working with Grey offices in Los Angeles, Toronto, and Montreal, he will build the agencys talent and capabilities, enhance partnerships with social platforms, and ensure social is an integral part of new business development.

Gold has served as SVP, director of social media for Grey New York for the past 15 months. During his tenure, Gold has played an integral role operationally, strategically and creatively developing content and the innovative use of social media for the agency and its clients. Grey New York has doubled its social media team under his leadership.

Dan Bennett, worldwide chief innovation officer at Grey Group, said: “Kenny Gold has brought energy and vision to placing social at the heart of our creative and strategic approach to brand building. Hes expanded the horizons of how we create Famously Effective work that resonates in popular culture.”

Telaria adds Antoniou to direct on publisher accounts
Jenny Antoniou has taken the role of publisher account director, ad operations at video management platform Telaria. Reporting to vice president EMEA Bill Swanson, and based out of Telaria’s London office, she is responsible for the growth of Telaria’s EMEA publisher and broadcaster business.

Antoniou was previously head of campaign management at Dennis Publishing. She led teams through large-scale change covering all aspects of digital media operations, programmatic, content-led partnerships and B2B lead generation. As co-chair of the AOP’s Ad Ops Steering Group, Antoniou has also led and rolled out industry-wide publisher initiatives.

“Telaria has built a leading position in connected TV and premium video globally across the US and APAC regions,” said Antoniou. “As the video advertising landscape evolves and grows at a rapid pace in EMEA, I’m excited to build on thebe part of the company’s success journey by leveraging its technology to unlock more programmatic video opportunities for publishers and brands in EMEA.”

Blakeway to lead programmatic at Journey Further
Performance marketing agency Journey Further has handed Ed Blakeway the role of head of programmatic & paid social at the company’s new Manchester office, which he will head up. He has joined to enhance the agency’s display and social offerings as clients demand greater transparency, stronger creative direction, and an integrated approach across paid and organic activity.

Blakeway was previously associate director at iProspect and, before that, head of programmatic at Search Laboratory.

“I am really excited to be joining the Journey Further team and establishing the agency in Manchester,” said Blakeway. “It is rare to find an agency that has such a strong proposition – Clarity at Speed – and a set of values that has created a unique and empowering culture. I will be working closely with Robin and the team to deliver for our clients and foster that culture in Manchester.”

Tealium welcomes Bullock to lead marketing
Heidi Bullock has joined Tealium, a customer data orchestration firm, as chief marketing officer, arriving from the same role at Engagio.

At Engagio, Bullock was responsible for the go-to-market strategy, product marketing, internal sales, corporate communications, and helping create the ABM automation category. Before that, she was group vice president of global marketing at Marketo, where she built out the award-winning demand generation function globally that helped lead to a successful IPO and, later, an acquisition.

“As a marketer, it is my job to provide customers with meaningful experiences and that requires leveraging the right types of data, responsibly, when it matters most. Tealium is appealing because it solves this issue regardless of the type of data or source,” said Bullock. “Im proud to be joining an innovative team that pioneered the customer data solution space. For me, the most important part of being a leader is to support, grow, energize and connect all of our team members – as well as the customers we serve.”

Balekjian and Cura join Badi senior team
Badi, an AI-driven room rental marketplace, has hired Glenda Balekjian as vice president of product and Ezequiel Cura as vice president of engineering.

Balekjian leaves her leadership role within Booking.com’s core marketplace product development team, which saw her lead data science based initiatives to match guests with the right accommodation, post booking automation services, and refining messaging based solutions which connected customer service, hosts and travellers across 42 languages. She will now use her experience to further Badi’s strategic drive to improve its user-centred product offering. 

“I’m looking forward to leading our product efforts at Badi, a young fast-growing organisation with huge potential,” commented Balekjian. “I’m inspired by Badi’s vision to create solutions that make our world better through the power of technology. Making space in a crowded world resonates as one of the biggest problems to solve for future generations. It’s about sustainability and quality of life.”

Cura joins from Google where he worked in Photos, Research, Google Pay, and SumUX.

“I have always been a product and goal driven engineer. I had the luck to lead a wide number of projects for Google that helped to hone the skill set I will bring to Badi,” said Cura. “I enjoy closely collaborating with cross-functional teams and I’m looking forward to continuing Badis efforts to help everyone live everywhere, now in an international setting.”

Mapp opts for Alberti to lead global sales
Maurizio Alberti has been promoted to the role of vice president of global sales at cloud-based digital marketing provider Mapp. He will oversee the development of Mapps annual sales plan and define the corresponding sales policies and practices. In addition, Alberti will lead the company’s global direct and channel sales strategies and expand the international sales team, providing optimal operational support for Mapps overall business objectives.

Alberti boasts more than 15 years of digital marketing industry experience, starting his career as an account manager at eCircle before being appointed managing director for Italy in 2010. From 2013, he held the position of managing director for Italy at Teradata, where his responsibilities included launching the integrated marketing applications solution in Italy. Teradata would then evolve into Mapp in 2016.

“Following my role as Managing Director Europe, I am delighted to now apply my knowledge to Mapps global business,” said Alberti. “As our company continues to grow, consistent, effective sales operations are essential to further expand our customer base and achieve our defined business objectives. We still have a great deal of potential in cross-channel marketing.”

Lewis to head up finance at Clicky
Digital marketing agency Clicky has appointed Jane Lewis as head of finance, bringing her wealth of corporate experience to the growing agency.

Lewis joins from a vice president role at ConvaTec Group, where she was instrumental in floating the $1.7bn business on the London Stock Exchange in 2016.

“I was impressed with both the energy at the office and the ethical values at Clicky that stem from the leadership,” commented Lewis. “I have the opportunity to help this dynamic company grow and flourish, and I’m looking forward to seeing where the journey takes us.”

Vungle promotes Bondy to COO
Jeremy Bondy has been handed the newly created role of chief operating officer at Vungle, a performance marketing platform for in-app video ads on mobile devices. The promotion coincides with Blackstone’s completed acquisition of the company.

Bondy, who has been at Vungle since 2014, will continue to oversee global revenue and Vungle Creative Labs, while ensuring operational excellence across the business.

“Jeremy is a seasoned and trusted leader who consistently delivers results,” said Vungle chief executive officer Rick Tallman. “Jeremy’s sales and operational leadership have been instrumental to our rapid, profitable growth over the past five years. I look forward to working closely with him in his new role as we continue to expand our company and better serve our customers.”

Wray and Graham take places on Tonik+ executive team
Tonik+, a video intelligence and editing solution, has named Lauren Wray as chief revenue officer and Chris Graham as chief product officer and general manager.

Wray will oversee key sales and marketing initiatives for company including strategy development, account management, pricing, forecasting, resource planning and budgeting. Prior to joining Tonik+, she led media and content domain sales, growth and strategy at Kantar. Before that, she directed the national sales team and played an essential role in the extensive growth of the business at Sharethrough. She started her career at Forbes Media.

“Lauren is a seasoned leader who brings a wealth of experience in sales and customer acquisition,” said Morgan Harris, founder & CEO of Tonik+. “She understands the needs of our business and how to effectively develop successful strategies that generate revenue. We are excited to welcome Lauren and her passion for quickly growing startups to the TONIK+ team.”

Graham will oversee technology, creative, and data science teams at Tonik+. Most recently, he oversaw the development of HYFN8 from concept through launch, monetisation, growth, and exit, creating and managing teams including analytics, ad operations, client services, product management, sales engineering, and marketing. He went on to found Noname Ventures and ZeroBaseOne.

“Chris brings an exceptional knowledge bank of technology, startup and media brand development to the Tonik+ executive team, and has been a consistent catalyst for operational excellence throughout his career,” said Harris. “We’re so thrilled that he chose to join us on our journey of growth, and vertical expansion this year. With the addition of both Lauren and Chris, our top-notch leadership team is stronger than ever.”

Channel Factory makes senior hires across Europe.
Idan Shuklin, Kasper Jensen, Ajay Daved, Mark Butt, and Juliet McCutcheon have all joined YouTube content alignment firm Channel Factory in various capacities across Europe.

Shuklin arrives as business development partner, EU/CEE. Bringing over 20 years of experience across eCommerce, software product and brand development, he was most recently eCommerce director for Europe at Chubb Limited. He will be tasked with creating and launching Channel Factory’s Central and Eastern European operations.

Jensen joins as sales manager for Denmark, bringing 15 years of digital media and management experience. He will be responsible for developing and activating a road map of clients for Channel Factory in the Danish market. Most recently, he was head of sales at Smartclip.

Daved, boasting 16 years of digital experience, will manage strategic partnerships across EMEA. He previously worked for DoubleClick and Google, and has held leadership roles at PowerLinks, Tremor, RhythmOne, and AppNexus.

Butt will work as strategic business development consultant in the UK, having a remit to develop partnerships with key agencies and brands. With more than 20 years’ experience in commercial strategy, mergers & acquisitions, media buying, programmatic technology and ad operations, he was managing director of Eyeconomy before launching Seventures Lab.

Last but by no means least, McCutcheon takes on the role of key accounts manager in the UK. Joining from her role as sales manager at Amobee EMEA, she will be working closely with the UK agencies, driving awareness of Channel Factory’s solution, and developing the UK roadmap.

“We are excited to welcome Ajay, Mark and Juliet to the UK team to further service brands and agencies across the UK,” said Mattias Spetz, EU managing director at Channel Factory. “We are delighted to announce the launch of the Danish office and appointment of Kasper to build the business in Denmark and deliver a truly localised offering. We are also pleased to open our office in Russia and welcome Idan to lead Central and Eastern European operations for Channel Factory.”

Three leadership changes at Starmind
AI SaaS company Starmind has appointed Stefan Gass as chief marketing officer & head of growth and Eric Storm as vice president of sales, Americas, while promoting Adrian Schlund as chief revenue officer.

Gass will lead all marketing, inside sales, customer success and community functions. He will focus on Starmind`s accelerated go to market, product-led growth and global scaling strategies. He brings over two decades of experience leading high-growth teams at venture-backed SaaS companies like Veeam and scaling teams into new markets at BCG, Microsoft and Oracle.

“Starmind is paving the way in defining a new category, which is a natural evolution in the future of work as every large corporation today is going through fundamental shifts in their workforce,” said Gass. “Our neural networks are helping enterprises harness human intelligence to unlock productivity and competitive advantages while facilitating knowledge-sharing and growth. Our customers have a significant opportunity to transform in the way they tap into their most valuable asset – human knowledge – and I am excited to help them realize that.”

Storm will lead Starmind’s expansion into the US market, focused on enterprise businesses. He joins from Citrix, where he was one of the key enterprise US sales leaders.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Stefan and Eric to Starmind,” explained Oliver Muhr, CEO at Starmind. “Each bring unrivalled experience working at both high-growth startups and large-scale enterprises, as well as impressive track records in growing companies and creating new categories in enterprise software.”

Tag brings in Vidler as Europe boss
Andria Vidler has been hired as EMEA chief executive officer by Tag, a creative production and sourcing partner to brands and agencies. Reporting to global CEO David Kassler, she will officially start her new role in January 2020.

Vidler has spent the past six years as CEO of Centaur Media PLC, which she transformed into a business intelligence, data and event group primarily focused on the marketing sector. She was responsible for setting strategy, driving financial performance, overseeing operational improvement and delivering cultural change.

Before Centaur, Vidler spent four years as CEO for EMI Music UK & Ireland and has held senior roles at Magic Radio-Emap, Bauer Media and at the BBC. She is also a trustee for Media Trust and a non-executive for Gamesys PLC.

“Having worked at the heart of the marketing and media sector for over 25 years, I fully understand the appeal of Tag’s compelling proposition as a creative production and strategic sourcing partner,” commented Vidler. “More than ever, brands need trusted, independent partners with capability and scale to help them navigate the complex and ever-changing demand for content across all media channels. This is exactly what Tag is built for and why it is well-positioned for growth. Im excited to continue to drive the success of its business across EMEA.”

Barclay and Wagner arrive at Synup
Synup, an intent marketing cloud, has selected Margie Barclay as senior vice president of client services and Brett Wagner as vice president of enterprise sales.

A 22-year veteran of the technology space, Barclay served as vice president of sales and customer experience at Contently before joining Synup. She also served in senior leadership roles at TapClicks, YP.com and Advance Publications.

“The future of marketing is going to be about giving customers the right information at the right time, based on purchase intent. That’s why I’m so excited to be joining Synup,” Barclay said. “Consumer behaviour is changing rapidly, and the Synup Intent Marketing Cloud is in the perfect position to drive outcomes that truly help our customers’ bottom lines.”

Wagner joins Synup after serving as APAC general manager at Movable Ink, where he helped drive sales. He has also overseen growth at LiveIntent and Bomoda, where he held leadership roles in sales and revenue.

“When scaling a company, I’ve always put the customer at the centre of my efforts. That’s the true key to client retention and growth, and that’s why I’m excited to be joining a like-minded organization like Synup,” Wagner said. “The company’s expansion plans are ambitious, and they’re mapped out in a way that will not only expand the company’s customer base, but also make existing customers happier than ever.”

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HTC opts for Maitre as new CEO

Yves Maitre has become chief executive officer at consumer electronics business HTC. The move sees Cher Wang continue as chairwoman of the HTC board.

Maitre joins the Taiwanese company from Orange, where he held senior executive positions for over 14 years, most recently as EVP of consumer equipment and partnerships. Prior to joining Orange, Yves spent six years working for consumer electronics company Thomson Multimedia where he served in senior positions in the US and Singapore. He has also held roles across supply chain and product management.

“HTC has long been a bellwether for new technology innovation and Im honoured to be selected by the Board of Directors to lead the next phase of HTC,” said Yves Maitre, CEO at HTC. “Across the world, HTC is recognised for its firsts across the mobile and XR space. I am incredibly energised to grow the future of both 5G and XR alongside HTC employees, customers and investors.  We will set out immediately to continue the transition from building the worlds best consumer hardware to also building complete services around them to make them easy to manage and deploy.”

Plant named president of UM unit

UM, IPG Mediabrands’ full-service marketing and media agency network, has appointed Anthony Plant as executive vice president, global president of J3 – UM’s dedicated media unit for Johnson & Johnson. Succeeding Eileen Kiernan, who was recently elevated to global chief executive officer at UM, Plant will oversee the agencys largest global client, with a focus on advancing Johnson & Johnsons goals, plans and ambitions and implementing best-in-class media planning at the global, regional and local levels.

Plant brings more than 25 years of integrated communications experience. While leading IPG Mediabrands Japan, he established the complete suite of media disciplines, driving new client partnerships with BMW, Hachette, Benesse, Coach and Skechers. Prior to his five years in Japan, Plant was stationed in China and Southeast Asia for nine years where he worked with clients including P&G and Mead Johnson, in addition to launching a shopper marketing agency. Before Asia, he worked in London managing Disney, Visa and Burger King accounts across EMEA.

“Global perspective is critical to delivering the highest form of innovation and collaboration, and I am excited by the challenge to lead J3 into the future,” said Plant. “Johnson & Johnson has been innovating in the healthcare space for over a century, making it the leader it is today, and I look forward to partnering with our clients and teams to translate J&Js global ambitions into excellence, through better science, better art and better outcomes.”

YouAppi chooses Yoshii to lead Japan

Sawato (Stephan) Yoshii has been hired as country manager for Japan at in-app advertising platform YouAppi. Based in Tokyo, he will lead a team of 12 (including himself) which supports YouAppi’s Japanese clients and partners.

Yoshii joins YouAppi from InMobi where he was head of sales in Japan. Before InMobi, he was country manager for Xaxis, WPP’s programmatic media company, in Japan. And prior to that, he was director of global business development for Opt, a digital ad agency within Dentsu.

“I’m excited by YouAppi’s mobile-first technology which offers marketers, agencies, developers, and publishers a comprehensive and proven solution – from user acquisition through re-engagement – for achieving their goals for revenue and monetization,” said Yoshii. “With Japan both a strategic market in terms of marketers and publishers targeting Japanese users and for Japanese brands and developers seeking global reach and revenue, I’m motivated to grow Japan’s share of YouAppi’s revenue.”

Rayala takes charge of information at Yext

Digital knowledge management platform Yext has turned to Deepika Rayala to take up the role of chief information officer. She will spearhead Yexts global IT organisation, driving the enterprise applications and analytics, infrastructure, and operations roadmap that enable Yext to deliver its platform to businesses around the world.

Boasting more than 20 years of IT experience, Rayala previously drove IT application delivery as the vice president of enterprise applications and project management office at Apttus. Prior to Apttus, she led and worked on large IT transformation programs at Broadcom and Genentech, executing strategies to modernise and align the IT application landscape with the companies business goals.

“It is such an exciting time to join Yext as it disrupts the search world with brand-verified answers and expands globally,” said Rayala. “I am looking forward to working with Yexts executive team and a remarkable IT team to deliver the right balance of optimal and innovative solutions, with the goal of enabling operational efficiencies and increasing customer and employee satisfaction.”

Sprinklr appoints Haley as general counsel

Dan Haley has been hired as the first general counsel and corporate secretary at enterprise social media management software firm Sprinklr. He will bring his government and private sector experience to overseeing the company’s global legal functions.

Haley joins Sprinklr after almost seven years at AthenaHealth, where he served as general counsel and later chief legal and administrative officer. He was responsible for ensuring the company followed comprehensive regulations around how medical records are stored, transmitted, used, and safeguarded. Before AthenaHealth, he was a partner at the McDermott Will and Emery law firm. Haley has also held senior positions in state-wide political campaigns, in the Massachusetts state government, and at federal political committees.

“I’m excited to take on this role at a crucial time in Sprinklr’s history, as we plan for the next decade of the company’s story,” said Haley. “Starting with an existing strong foundation put in place by the existing team, we are going to build a first-class legal function to enable accelerated innovation, sustained growth, and continued customer delight.”

Four new faces arrive at Beeswax

Programmatic buying platform Beeswax has added Charlotte Seagers as enterprise account manager, Hannah Cooper as EMEA programmatic trading specialist, Gemma Coffee as EMEA sales director, and Flora Evans as EMEA solutions consultant. Based in the London office, the new recruits will all report to EMEA commercial director Cadi Jones.

Seagers joins from Rezonance, where she was vice president of platform. Her role is to develop executive relationships with Beeswax customers, consulting on strategic opportunities to grow their business trough custom algorithms using their first party data, and transparent reporting and analytics.

Cooper will work with clients on customised algorithms and create bespoke advanced mathematical scripts to optimise their results from Beeswaxs Bidder-as-a-Service, while Coffee arrives from her job as partnerships director at GroundTruth with more than 10 years of sales and business development experience.

Last but not least, Evans brings six years of EMEA experience from Rubicon Project, where she worked prior to her most recent gig as account and product manager at AI-powered food discovery platform Spoon Guru. She also spent some time at Amazon.

“These additional team members will help grow our business in EMEA and improve results for customers. Gemma Coffee brings more than a decade of solid experience to the existing sales team at Beeswax and will reach more next-generation marketers looking to optimise the in-housing of their programmatic activity and media companies taking a more strategic approach to programmatic advertising,” said Jones.

“Flora Evans uses her advanced technical knowledge drawn from years of experience in the advertising industry supporting premium publishers to ensure brands and media companies seeking to transition from legacy Demand-Side Platforms to Beeswax can do so swiftly to maximise their returns.

“Charlotte Seagers’s excellent strategic consultative skills and technical experience will help support customers in growing their businesses, alongside Hannah Cooper’s brilliant combination of practical and academic mathematical knowledge to optimise the performance customers see from Beeswax’s platform on an ongoing basis.”

Ebiquity selects Sobo to direct strategy

Jide Sobo has been given the newly created role of director of strategy and innovation at Ebiquity, an independent media and marketing consultancy, progressing from his previous role as director of digital.

Sobo has worked in digital marketing for the last 15 years advising clients such as J&J, Danone, Kingfisher, Morrisons, Burger King, Tesco and partnering with mobile operators where he helped develop early mobile advertising propositions. Before joining Ebiquity, he was head of mobile for MEC.

“Clients are dealing with a myriad of challenges as a result of a quickly evolving media landscape and are turning to Ebiquity for independent analysis and advice,” said Sobo. “Ebiquity is in a unique position to help brands drive greater business impact through robust, independent, data-driven solutions. I’m excited to build on Ebiquity’s existing digital leadership to help clients solve marketing challenges at the frontier of change, such as search and ecommerce, influencer marketing, and voice.”

Renfrew and Carvajal hired at Journey Further

Performance marketing agency Journey Further has recruited Sam Renfrew and Magnolia Carvajal to its conversion team. Renfrew has been hired as lead optimisation developer, while Carvajal has been appointed as conversion specialist.

Renfrew, who joins Journey Further from Asda, will be responsible for building onsite experiments and then helping clients implement winning tests into production environments.

Previously of Travelopia and Tesco, Carvajal will manage the end-to-end research and experimentation process, conducting analysis, forming hypotheses and ensuring smooth transition to testing and implementation.

“It’s been great to welcome Sam and Magnolia to the team. Their client-side experience in particular will help in delivering our more consultative and transformative approach to CRO,” said Jonny Longden, conversion director at Journey Further.

“We’re looking to redefine how the discipline is understood, moving away from the idea of ‘hacking’ conversion rates to data-driven web development. We want to help our clients use conversion optimisation as the sole process for improving their website, ultimately embedding a culture of experimentation in their businesses.”

Amp makes appoints in US and Germany

Vijay Iyer has been hired by Amp, a Germany-based sound branding agency, to lead its first US office in the New York. He will be tasked with strengthening the company’s relationships with current US headquartered global clients across FMCG, finance and consultancy, as well as building Amp’s influence across the market.

Iyer, who has 20 years experience in global marketing and communications, moves to amp from General Motors’ (GM) international communications team, where he led business planning and future talent strategy. Prior to this, he held multiple international communications, brand and product marketing, executive roles, including leading global communications for GM’s connected car and OnStar business, overseeing the marketing and PR efforts of Cadillac and Chevrolet Europe, and serving as one of the founding members of GM’s car sharing start-up Maven.

Amp has also moved to strengthen its leadership team at its Munich home, hiring Anselm Büchler as head of strategy. He will lead the agency’s efforts in research, design thinking, and forward-looking strategy development across its portfolio of clients.

Büchler, who previously served as a design thinking coach and communications lecturer at the Kyoto Institute of Technology, brings with him a wealth of experience in innovative brand communication and eco-friendly customer experience design. Prior to joining Amp, he held multiple international leadership roles at design and brand communications agencies consulting clients such as Fresenius, Ride Snowboards, Colani and Dachser.

“Expanding our team to New York will help us improve the service we offer current clients based in the region, whilst helping us meet the additional demand generated by our landmark research into audio branding, the Best Audio Brands Ranking 2019”, said Michele Arnese, CEO and head of creativity and strategy at Amp. “With a growing number of European clients also seeking Amp’s support in developing and rolling out their sonic brand strategies, further strengthening our team in Munich was also critical. We are therefore delighted to have Vijay and Anselm join us at this important inflection point for our agency.’’ 

Chen takes charge of product at VidMob

VidMob, a video advertising company, has picked Humphrey Chen as its chief product officer. He will oversee the development of VidMobs core product, the Agile Creative Studio, as well as the advancement of the companys external facing APIs, as it continues its work to build an open API for creativity.

Chen, who will also oversee VidMob’s collaboration with MIT to advance its machine learning-based recommender systems, previously served as head of Amazon’s Rekognition computer vision service. VidMob’s Agile Creative Studio has been working with Rekognition for almost two years, leveraging its computer vision solution and proprietary technology to help marketers tag creative attributes.

“Since the early days of working with VidMob, Ive been fascinated by the powerful implications of their creative data platform,” said Chen. “Their fundamental respect for the irreplaceable power of human creativity, coupled with their belief that a technology platform can be built to enhance it and make it smarter has the power to change industries. Im thrilled to join the team and help advance their mission.”

Rokt looks to Lim to lead financial

Holly Lim has become the first chief financial officer at eCommerce martech company Rokt. Based in Rokt’s New York office and reporting to chief executive officer Bruce Buchanan, she will lead global financial strategy with corporate development, business analytics, finance and legal teams reporting into the new CFO org.

Lim joins Rokt from CFO positions at TuneIn and SoundCloud, and previously served as group finance lead/operations and strategy at Googles Advanced Technologies and Projects (ATAP) group. At TuneIn, she was responsible for revamping business processes and systems to help the company execute at speed and on strategic planning initiatives that shaped the companys late-stage vision and core internal investment strategy.

“The Rokt team has developed a unique opportunity in the martech space and Im excited to work across the companys global organisation and partner with teams to drive continued growth and profitability,” said Lim. “Im looking forward to joining Rokts executive team and certified Roktstars in driving the business forward and breaking new ground with our enterprise customers.”

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Robin Skidmore, co-founder of search marketing firm Epiphany, has invested £500,000 in a new agency offering PPC and programmatic display advertising to UK brands.

The initial investment in Journey Further is to ‘recruit senior staff, secure premium office space and build a brand for the company, which aims to employ 30 staff within 12 months’.

“We went on an astounding journey with Epiphany…” said Skidmore. “Journey Further is the next chapter in that story and the paid search and programmatic space is where we know we can make the biggest impact. For too long, brands have been kept in the dark when it comes to paid performance.”

The Journey Further team’s search advertising experience is said to span 12 years, including campaigns for Virgin Holidays and AXA, among others. Matt Kwiecinski has joined as managing director of Journey Further, following 18 years at Omnicom. Most recently, Kwiencinski oversaw the merger of Critical Mass and Agency Republic.

Skidmore continued: “We have established a structure whereby senior analysts work directly with our clients to deliver a more personal and trustworthy service… Naturally, our growth plans are ambitious and we are looking for the very best talent to join us.”

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