The mobile and digital marketing industry is ever-changing, and that applies to the people as much as the technology. Movers & Shakers is our monthly round-up of the hottest hires in the industry…
Temple transfers to WeTransfer to take up CMO role
WeTransfer has appointed Angelique Temple as its Chief Marketing Officer. Temple brings to WeTransfer over a decade of experience developing and delivering marketing strategies and campaigns for high-growth global tech and media brands.
Most recently, she spent four years at WeWork as its VP of Growth and Revenue Marketing. During her time at WeWork, Temple was responsible for leading the marketing for WeWork’s monthly subscription product, WeWork All Access and pay-as-you-go membership, WeWork On Demand.
Prior to WeWork, Temple was a Senior Director of CX Strategy for marketing technology company, Zeta Global, where she led strategy consulting for clients in Zeta’s Fortune 500’s customer base. Prior to that, she was an audience strategy consultant for Convicts, a digital media publisher based in New York.
In her new role, she will drive awareness of WeTransfer’s suite of features that span different stages of the creative workflow, support the growth of the subscription offering and deliver campaigns that increase engagement with the platform’s global customer base.
“Angelique’s expertise in product-led growth with global companies will make an excellent addition to our team and help to supercharge and complement our expanding ecosystem of creative workflow tools,” said WeTransfer CEO, Alexandar Vassilev. “Her proven experience will be invaluable as we continue to innovate the products we offer to creative professionals and broader communities in delivering on our strategy over the coming years.”
Korda to CMO at Oxford International
Oxford International Education Group (OIEG) has appointed Alex Korda as its Chief Marketing Officer. She brings broad international marketing and product experience to help assist and accelerate OIEG’s ambitious digital growth plans. She previously held UK and international roles at Orange, Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy UK, as well as global loyalty technology provider cxLoyalty/Tenerity.
Korda joins OIEG as it continues to build on its EdTech portfolio, including the expansion of its English Language Level Test offering. With over 20 years’ cross-sector experience, she brings valuable knowledge of how to market brands that are in the process of disrupting their industry, along with new thinking and approaches to enable accelerated growth and continued relevance. Her expertise in harnessing data to better analyse customer behaviour will strengthen OIEG’s data-centric approach to transforming the Higher Education sector. This aligns with its broader ambition to provide outstanding educational opportunities across a range of student markets.
She said: “Higher Education’s importance is ever-increasing, as economies look to train and prepare the next generation of workers and avoid a skills gap. International students bring unique experience and knowledge that can benefit universities, and the skills pool of any economy. I’m excited to be joining OIEG at such a pivotal moment in the organisation’s history as it continues to nurture its digital growth portfolio, but also in terms of the direction and opportunities of the Higher Education sector in a post-Covid world.”
Houston becomes WPP’s first US President
Michael Houston, Global CEO of Grey, has been appointed President of WPP’s business in the US. In this new role, which aligns with WPP’s country leadership structure in other major markets, Houston will represent the company in its largest market worldwide. WPP employs approximately 20,000 people in the US, where it has annual revenues of around $6bn.
Houston will be responsible for promoting WPP’s offer and collective capabilities, supporting agency CEOs, and bringing together people and resources for clients. He will shape the company’s US campus strategy and play a key role in talent attraction and retention, with a strong emphasis on diversity and inclusion.
He will assist AKQA Group CEO, Ajaz Ahmed with the transition to new leadership at Grey and will continue as a member of the WPP Executive Committee. As part of his new role, Houston will also serve as WPP’s Executive Sponsor for P&G.
He joined Grey in 2007. He was named Managing Director of Grey New York in 2011, CEO for North America in 2013 and Global CEO in 2017. In addition to Grey, he has held senior leadership positions at KB+P, Landor and Y&R, as well as founding a brand consultancy in the 1990s. He has worked across multiple functions of the marketing services business, including accounts, strategy, business development and corporate communications.
He sits on the board of Concern Worldwide, a global humanitarian group dedicated to tackling poverty and suffering in the world’s poorest countries. He also serves on the boards of the Institute of International Education, Effie Worldwide and the AdCouncil.
“The United States is our largest market and home to many of our most important clients,” said WPP CEO, Mark Read. Michael is admired and respected across the industry and has made an exceptional contribution during his 15 years at Grey. I am delighted that he is taking on this important new role for WPP, supporting our people and agencies and bringing the best of WPP to our clients.”
Ratcliff appointed Director of Adobe Alliance EMEA at Merkle
Customer experience management (CXM) company Merkle has appointed Ellie Ratcliff to the position of Director of Adobe Alliance EMEA, with a focus on commercial and go-to-market strategies across the region.
Ratcliff will help brands looking to increase their technology investments due to the accelerated need to modernise solutions to meet ever-evolving customer expectations. It brings vital experience and a deeper focus on Merkle’s growing partnership with Adobe in the region, helping clients drive multi-channel connectivity and seamless experience throughout the entire customer journey.
Formerly Adobe alliance manager for the Northern Europe region, Ratcliff moved to Merkle in 2021 from her previous role in professional services sales at Adobe, where she supported customers across the Nordics with digital transformation services using Adobe technology. In 2020, Ratcliff was also awarded the Adobe Sales Achievement Award.
Merkle is one of Adobe’s leading global partners, with over 1,000 dedicated Adobe experts. The agency was one of the first to be accredited on Adobe Experience Platform and holds longstanding expertise across the entire Adobe Experience Cloud.
Ratcliff said: “Merkle’s continued growth as key partner in the Adobe ecosystem is a testament to the expertise, skill, and commitment that the EMEA team have shown. It’s an incredibly exciting time to lead such talented individuals, while helping clients achieve maximum value through their technology investments in their customer experience journeys’”
An avatar called Leon takes Chief Metaverse Officer post at Publicis Groupe France
Publicis Groupe France has announced a new interface to further help its clients understand, navigate and develop Web3 strategies. The interface takes the form of an avatar named Leon, who takes up the role of Chief Metaverse Officer. Leon will accompany clients and help advise how to navigate and approach the meta jungle, with strategies unique to their business; act as a guide to employees with the support of the right expertise and teams at the Groupe; and showcase the best examples of Web3 from Publicis clients across the Groupe
Created by Publicis Conseil, Leon has spent his entire career with the agency. As a Web3 native, he has strong grounding across communication disciplines and is a metaverse expert.
The appointment of Leon builds on the expansive set of existing capabilities, skillsets and talent that currently resides within Publicis Groupe, with a focus on deep Web3 expertise in both blockchain use cases – inclusive of NFTs, smart contracts and decentralised applications – as well as metaversal technologies like VR/AR and artificial intelligence. Drawing from its Power of One approach and cross-agency collaboration, Publicis has developed and driven Web3 efforts over the past year.
“The metaverse isn’t a destination, it’s a real-time learning moment for all,” said Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe. “It requires interrogation, education and experimentation. We are committed to being on that journey with our clients, to help them understand what it means for their business and to bring them the existing Web3 capabilities in the Groupe across data, media and technology. Leon embodies that as an avatar and will help our clients navigate this new channel and progress every step of the way."
Teads adds five senior hires
Teads has announced a series of senior appointments and promotions across North America as the company scales its business operations and solutions.
Jennifer Werner joins the company as VP Southeast to lead Teads’ mid-market sales teams for the East, covering the Southeast, DC, and Boston markets. Neala Brown joins as VP of Insights, and will be responsible for identifying business-driven, strategic insights through research, analytics, measurement, and data. Also joining Teads is Matthew Harris as VP Multicultural. Harris brings with him more than 20 years’ experience to oversee Teads multicultural practice as part of the company’s focus on responsible advertising in premium, brand-safe environments. Additionally, Charles Lucterhand joins as VP of Strategic Accounts to manage client relationships and verticalized solutions across strategic accounts. Lastly, Marc Sutter has been appointed VP Enterprise Sales, and will be responsible for leading commercial and product strategy for Teads’ Ad Manager offering.
This series of new appointments supports the company’s key initiatives across strategic client and agency relationships, while enabling Teads to further its growth and focus on providing greater resources and services. The company is looking to bolster its employees across all departments throughout 2022, with plans to increase its headcount by 19 per cent in the US to meet growing demand.
Jeffrey to head up Deloitte Digital’s UK practice
Colin Jeffrey has been announced as the new lead partner of Deloitte Digital in the UK, overseeing 1,200 experts in technology, creative design, research, data and strategy. Jeffrey takes over as leader of the UK Deloitte Digital practice from Sam Roddick, following his appointment to global head of Deloitte Digital.
A founding member of Deloitte Digital in 2012, Jeffrey most recently held the role of Lead Partner for Consumer in Deloitte’s consulting practice, overseeing the retail, consumer products, automotive and travel, hospitality and services sectors. Throughout his career, he has specialised in the design and build of digital commerce platforms.
He said: “We started Deloitte Digital in 2012 with 120 people, building digital platforms and tools at a time when consumers were more likely to access the internet from their browser rather than their smartphone. Today, we have grown to a team of 1,200 people, with a spectrum of expertise that mirrors the diversity of the UK’s digital sector, with dedicated teams for instance now focusing on the metaverse, inclusive design, digital advertising and data science. Over the next three years, as investment in digital continues to grow, we plan to double the headcount of Deloitte Digital to 2,400, introducing new roles across the country to enhance our clients’ abilities to create amazing, memorable experiences for businesses, consumers and communities across the UK.”
Tribal Worldwide adds three creatives
Tribal Worldwide has added three creatives to its team, including Dave Sullivan and Al Taylor, who join the agency as Creative Directors, and Sisley Henning, who joins as a Creative.
Sullivan comes with a strong copywriting background and award-winning work recognised by Cannes Lions and DA&D amongst others. He has extensive experience in the integrated advertising space, previously working at agencies including Publicis, CDD and AMV. He worked on Tribal’s successful Christmas campaign for Wren Kitchens and will be working across Volkswagen, Exxon and Wren.
Taylor has previously worked at agencies including AKQA, Collective London and Spark44, and brings extensive cross-channel experience within the automotive sector. He will be working across Tribal’s portfolio of automotive clients including Volkswagen, Skoda and CUPRA.
Henning has a background in film making, with a vast range of skills and experience in short films, animation, photography, voiceovers, and writing.
“This new trio of talent joins our creative department at a time of significant change,” said Tribal Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, Victoria Buchanan. “We’re always reinventing, breaking the rules, and disrupting the status quo, placing our clients’ specific needs first and foremost. Our skilled creatives work as individuals or as multi combination teams with other practices, specialists and client teams depending on the project in hand.”
OMD India hires Tomar as Head of Strategy
OMD India has appointed Charul Tomar as Head of Strategy. With over 13 years of diverse experience working with leading market research and media agencies, including Kantar, Nielsen and Mindshare, Tomar brings to the role robust cross-functional experience in market research, insights & strategy and media analytics. In her role at OMD, she will be spearheading impactful, strategic initiatives across the board, and will also be in charge of accelerating efforts around nurturing a culture where attention and empathy are treated as valuable currencies to take a more humanistic approach towards client and people relationships
Speaking on the appointment, Chief Executive Officer at OMD India, Anisha Iyer, said, “We are stoked to have Charul on board with us. She is a fine strategic leader and frontrunner when it comes to having a pulse on the confluence of consumer, brand and insights. Her appointment comes at a time when OMD India is undergoing significant momentum and one that is fuelled by the most promising talent in the industry. I am certain that Charul’s valuable expertise, combined with her drive and commitment, will help us take our offerings to new heights. The future looks promising!”
In line with its long-standing values and principles, the company said this is another huge step for the media agency towards creating a truly inclusive workplace where things like gender, race or age have no power. With Tomar joining the team, the agency now has three highly driven and seasoned women leaders at the top.
Tomar said: “Sharp strategic management is always at the heart of every successful business. I am truly excited to be on board with OMD India, chiefly due to their commitment to futureproofing and their ability to adapt and innovate in an ever-changing marketplace. The agency exudes a strong vision and energy on the back of an exciting 2022 it has had so far, and I look forward to leveraging my experience to formulate game-changing strategies and deliver scalable business solutions, all while keeping empathy and attention at the core of what we do.”
Tech industry veteran Malik takes up CMO role at Braze
Customer engagement platform Braze has announced Astha Malik as its new Chief Marketing Officer. Malik joins Braze following the retirement of former CMO Sara Spivey, earlier this month. Reporting to co-founder and CEO Bill Magnuson, Malik will join the executive leadership team at Braze and will oversee all global marketing functions.
A tech industry veteran, Malik brings more than 20 years’ experience building brands, driving innovation, and accelerating revenue growth. Most recently, she served as Chief Operating Officer of VTEX, where she oversaw the company’s go-to-market and global growth strategy, global marketing, and people operations. Throughout her career she has held leadership positions across a number of premier technology companies including Zendesk, Citrix, Sumo Logic, and PagerDuty.
“I’m thrilled to be joining the Braze team and to lead marketing for a brand trusted by marketers at customer-centric companies around the world,” she said. “There’s so much opportunity ahead for Braze to keep shaping the future of customer engagement through its growing community of marketers, developers, and customer engagement teams. I look forward to joining the talented team and accelerating the momentum in the company’s next growth phase.”
Smith to lead Journey Further in US
Journey Further has appointed Duncan Smith, former US President & Chief Media Officer at iProspect, as its new US CEO. Smith will be responsible for the North American market and will lead the agency’s growth ambitions. He will be working closely with Global CEO, Robin Skidmore, (who will be moving Stateside) to challenge the market and work collaboratively to deliver on the agency’s vision of “creating the performance brands of tomorrow”.
Smith has over 22 years’ experience within senior leadership roles at global media agencies including Carat, Vizeum, Mediacom and Starcom. He brings a wealth of both brand and performance experience, working with clients including P&G, AB InBev, Polestar Cars, MasterCard and Hilton.
The agency is building a new founding team in the States and hiring across a number of specialisms to support current international clients, while creating the structures to quickly win and service new accounts.
Smith said: “We have the opportunity to reframe the role of the media agency to a large extent by bringing Journey Further to the US, and I think our challenger approach will enable more effective and actionable conversations with our clients. I want Journey Further to be a place that cuts through outdated approaches and conversations, allowing us to talk to clients more holistically about their brands and business, and being more accountable about the vital (and demonstrable) role we can play in making them more successful."
Kendrick to Marketing Manager at Mediavision
Digital agency MediaVision has appointed Nicky Kendrick as its Marketing Manager. She brings more than 25 years’ experience to the role and will be working directly with Adam Freeman, Managing Partner at MediaVision. Her role will see her amplifying MediaVision’s company profile and expertise as well as leading the launch of its new tech stack – set to give clients access to predictive SEO, weekly share of search data, and digital demand tracking at a brand and product level.
Prior to joining MediaVision, Kendrick spent eight years as Hiscox’s Sponsorship Manager, responsible for managing the company’s sponsorship portfolio, including a first of its kind partnership with the National Gallery in London. She also spent almost 10 years at Kempton Park Racecourse as Marketing Manager and then Brand Experience Manager.
Kendrick was also part of the internal team that rebranded the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) to World Snooker. In her role as marketing manager, she oversaw the publicity for professional tournaments and its players including Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Steve Davis.
She said: “What an exciting time to join MediaVision. A UK Digital Growth Awards win, shortlisted at the European Search Awards... and a truly groundbreaking tech stack just been launched. I can’t wait to get started.”
GroupM Nexus makes six senior appointments
GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, has announced a raft of senior leadership appointments at its recently-unveiled performance media organization, GroupM Nexus. The new appointments include global leaders for operations, transformation, product, people and clients, as well as a new global CEO at outcome media specialist Xaxis, which forms part of the new organization.
Colin Barlow becomes Chief Operating Officer. He was previously President, GroupM Services. Silvia Sparry is Chief Transformation Officer. She was previously Global COO, Xaxis. Rich Astley is Chief Product Officer. He was previously Global Chief Product Officer, Finecast. Jodi Weintraub is Global Chief People Officer. She was previously Global Chief People Officer, GroupM Services. Henry Stokes is Global President, Agencies Enablement. He was previously Global MD, Clients, Xaxis. And John Wittesaele is Global CEO of Xaxis. He was previously, EMEA CEO, Xaxis.
“GroupM Nexus unites leading digital media talent, services excellence, cutting-edge AI technology and unique scaled partnerships into a new cross-channel performance organization with one purpose: power growth for our people, our agencies and the amazing brands they represent,” said GroupM Nexus Global CEO, Nicolas Bidon. “This newly formed leadership ensemble represents some of the best and brightest across GroupM Nexus and, together, will help create a world-leading performance platform and organization to help make advertising work better for our clients and their customers. I can’t be more excited to work with this team to unlock higher ROI from advertisers’ digital media investments.”
VCCP revamps social leadership team
VCCP has unveiled a new senior social leadership team. New addition Nick Lewis joins as Head of Social & Content Strategy and will work alongside Alex Dalman, Head of Social & Innovation and Nicky Palamarczuk, Head of Social & Influence to challenge the social conventions for VCCP’s clients across the partnership and expel the bad habits of the industry.
Lewis, Dalman and Palamarczuk will lead a team of 35 social specialists and their remit will be to translate the fast-paced nature of social-first thinking into groundbreaking work across social, gaming, digital and experiential in a native way. The trio will build on existing momentum by scaling VCCP’s social capabilities across its global network whilst also simplifying the complexity of the ever-evolving social media landscape for clients. Lewis joins VCCP from football media business COPA90, having spent almost six years with the publisher working with brands including EA Sports, Nike and PepsiCo.
Other moves:
Mobile app experience company Airship has promoted Virginia Llewellyn to the position of Chief Legal and Administrative Officer. In this role, Llewellyn will lead global legal and compliance matters, corporate governance and administration, and Airship’s newly expanded people organization. Llewellyn has served as Airship’s SVP and general counsel since October 2020, where her leadership and team’s knowledge have helped customers across the globe understand and proactively address important and often confusing data privacy regulations. She brings more than 20 years of legal, compliance and HR leadership experience to Airship, and for the past 15 years has been responsible for both the legal and people functions in all of her general counsel roles. Prior to Airship, she served as general counsel for several $100m+ lifestyle, beauty and fashion brands, most recently for Goop.
Mobile advertising platform LoopMe has appointed data veteran, David Barker, as VP Product. Barker joins LoopMe from Merkle, where he worked as Product Strategy Director. He also spent 18 years at Acxiom, where he focused on identity products in his role as Principal Product Director. In his new role at LoopMe, Barker will be responsible for the company’s demand, supply and measurement products, ensuring the delivery of outstanding ad campaigns through the use of artificial intelligence and data.
Wavemaker has appointed Radhika Radhakrishnan to the role of global Chief Financial Officer. She will be responsible for finance, commercial, compliance and legal, tasked with creating and managing best in class sustainable commercial relationships for Wavemaker and their clients. Her career spans Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) where she held the dual roles of Global Chief Financial Officer and Chief Financial Officer BBH London. Prior to her six years at BBH, she was Finance Director at 20th Century Fox UK and Chief Financial Officer Hachette at Filipacchi UK (now Hearst Magazines). Her strengths include commercial finance planning, global market intelligence, team transformation, and building strong relationships with non-finance stakeholders.
Additionally, Wavemaker UK has named Alasdair Pearmund as Head of Addressable. He will be responsible for leading and evolving the agency’s rapidly-expanding addressable content function. Pearmund joins Wavemaker from Omnicom’s DCO (Dynamic Creative Optimisation) agency Adylic, where he held the role of Addressable Lead across brands including Audi, Sainsbury’s, Levi’s and Virgin Atlantic.
Integrated agency group Unlimited has announced the appointment of Elinor Jones as Managing Partner on its Government account. Her remit will cover all Government accounts and she will sit on TMW Unlimited’s leadership team. With over 20 years’ industry experience, ten of which are in the public sector, Jones takes on the new role after over a year in Government, leading strategic communications for the Department of Business and Energy and Industrial Strategy. Before joining the Civil Service, Jones set up the Government practice at Ogilvy and worked with departments such as The?Department for International Trade?(DIT), Public Health England and the Post Office, executing campaigns that drove positive behaviour change. Before that she spent several years at the BBC delivering brand and programme communications across the whole portfolio, from broadcast and radio to online.
Independent ad exchange, Index Exchange, has promoted Sara Vincent to Managing Director for the UK and Ireland. She will work with media owners, agencies, and other key partners to accelerate growth in the UK and Ireland through the Index suite of omnichannel programmatic solutions. An industry veteran, Vincent joined Index Exchange as a Senior Director of Strategic Partner Development in 2018, bringing with her nearly two decades of experience in the world of publishing. In her four years at Index, Vincent worked as a liaison between Index Exchange and its UK publishing partners, collaborating across the company to ensure her clients were positioned for success.
Moloco, which specialises in machine learning solutions for growth and monetisation, has hired Sunil Rayan as the company’s first Chief Business Officer. Rayan brings more than 25 years of global experience building commercial and product operations and leading go-to-market teams to the role. He also brings a unique skill set and expertise in business strategy and scaling up large technology-driven businesses. Prior to Moloco, he served as President and Head of Disney+ Hotstar, where he grew the streaming business 8x to over 50m subscribers, scaled more than 20 markets internationally for Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar across India, Southeast Asia, Middle East, and Africa, and led the launch of the next-generation Hotstar streaming platform. Before joining Disney+, Rayan held leadership roles at Google for more than seven years, and prior to that, he was an Associate Partner at McKinsey.
Livestreaming commerce and digital transformation platform Firework has hired Meg Siegel as Vice President of Brand Marketing. Siegel comes to Firework from TikTok, where she was the Head of Brand Strategy for B2B marketing efforts in the US. The hire represents a strategic expansion of the leadership team as the company looks to drive greater awareness around its short-form video and live commerce platform. Siegel brings a wealth of storytelling, brand building and B2B marketing expertise to the Firework team. She began her tenure at TikTok in early 2020 and played a critical role in the social media platform’s highly successful US launch. Prior to that, she served as Global Director of Strategic Marketing for Spotify, where she helped marketers fall in love with digital audio as a new medium in their marketing mix, and spearheaded the first-ever “Spotify Culture Next” global trends report – which, now in its third year, continues to be one of Spotify Advertising’s most widely-read and cited annual franchises.
Digital agency Buddy Media has named Laura Hartley as Director of Organic Social and Georgina Bojarski as Director of Paid Social. Both are first roles for the agency and will report directly into CEO and Founder Sam Budd. Hartley brings 14 years’ experience to the role, having worked at agencies including iProspect, Isobar, Naked Communications and The Social Shepherd, working for Pernod Ricard, Cadbury Dairy Milk and NBC Universal. Bojarski has been working in digital marketing for almost nine years, across a plethora of clients including Nectar, Virgin Mobile UAE, OnePlus, NHS, UK Government & Pasta Evangelist. At Buddy Media, she will head up the Paid Performance team
Blockchain-based mobile operator World Mobile has appointed James Tagg as Chief Architect and to head its new operation in the US, where 27.6m households still don’t have Internet access and 30 per cent of the landmass lacks cellular coverage. World Mobile aims to revolutionise connectivity in sub-Saharan Africa and throughout the world. Tagg brings more than 30 years of success as a technology entrepreneur and inventor to the role, including founding Truphone, the world’s first global mobile operator, and Moonstone, which developed the first projected capacitive touchscreen, now found in almost every mobile phone in the world. He made the first VoIP call on a mobile phone and is one of the inventors of the eSIM. He will spearhead World Mobile’s expansion and work with partners to drive improved Internet connectivity in the US.
Ryu Games has appointed Steam founder Rick Ellis as Chief Product Officer. He will leverage his decades long experience in console, PC and mobile gaming development to drive the growth of Web3 adoption in gaming. He said: “Games that use NFTs and crypto are in their infancy, but their potential has already drawn millions of gamers to play these sometimes very simple games. The past few years have seen incredible advances in reducing blockchain’s negative environmental impact and lowering the cost of transactions. Meanwhile, serious game developers are heads down building the first generation of AAA titles built around open economies. The last missing piece before mass adoption is a user experience to launch these games. The technical and UX challenges Flame is solving are going to bridge the gap between gamers everywhere and the next internet – one that is owned by the users and not central authorities.”
Sourcepoint, a privacy compliance platform for the digital marketing ecosystem, has hired Chris Chapman as Chief Technology Officer, while Chloe Grutchfield has been promoted to Chief Product Officer from Senior Vice President, Product. Chapman has held senior roles at Adsafe Media and Integral Ad Science, as well as co-founding Sailthru and his own company Saferoute in 2006. He has a proven track record designing and deploying high-scale systems, experience he will bring to bear in providing online privacy to the world’s largest publishers and advertisers.
DoubleVerify, a software platform for digital media measurement, data and analytics, has appointed Carolyn Watt to the role of Vice President of Global Client Partnerships. In this role, Watt will be responsible for cultivating relationships with the company’s largest global customers. She will lead the global, regional and local teams in identifying the unique commercial needs of DV’s advertiser partners, and ensure the seamless delivery of DV’s comprehensive solutions. Previously Global Head of Strategy and Innovation at Quantcast, Watt brings over 20 years’ commercial leadership experience to DV. She has led teams across a broad range of industry verticals and sectors, with a specialism in defining and delivering data-driven business transformation strategies.
Search marketing firm GOA has appointed Luke Boudour as Chief Experience Officer (CXO). Reporting into CEO and Co-founder Dan Chorlton, he will be responsible for evolving, revolutionising and overseeing the customer journey from onboarding to ongoing care. The aim is to ensure all clients continue to receive the best possible experience (CX) from both the platform and team. The appointment follows a number of recent high-profile business wins for GOA, including a 12-month contract with PHD Global to perform full-scale reviews of its clients’ search account data to find the most valuable optimisations. It will additionally reduce resource levels required to manage said accounts through automation of insights, acceleration of analysis and testing cycles, and delivery of strategic insight for decision support.
TextNow, the mobile app offering a free cellular and wi-fi-enabled phone service, has appointed Raquel Alexander to the role of Vice President, Growth. She brings nearly 15 years of experience to TextNow, most recently as VP, eCommerce and Digital Marketing at health insurance marketplace eHealth. She will oversee user growth and customer experience as TextNow scales, focusing on expanding the TextNow audience, overseeing performance and retention marketing and product strategy, and developing and implementing an omnichannel growth strategy.
Experience Design Company, Imagination, has appointed a new Creative Director and Logistics Director in its Saudi Arabia office in Riyadh. Creative Director, Paulo Novoa, joins Imagination from TOLD, where he held the position of Associate Creative Director. He led the creative team to deliver solutions and brand strategy for clients overseeing projects from idea to implementation. He brings nine years of experience in senior creative roles to Imagination. Logistics Director Clare Baarda, brings over 15 years’ experience in events management to the role, having worked with major brands including Audi, L’Oreal and Ericsson. She joins Imagination after having worked with the company on successful projects for the KSA Ministry of Culture, G20 Cultural Programme and NEOM.
Enterprise application developer Mendix has promoted low-code veteran Nick Ford to the role of Chief Marketing Officer at Mendix. He was previously VP of Product Marketing and Chief Evangelist. He joins the C-suite leadership team as Mendix seeks to drive low-code from a supporting role to the centre of the application development stack to fuel Mendix’s next phase of hypergrowth. Mendix pioneered the enterprise low-code market beginning in 2005 and was acquired by Siemens in 2018.
Video advertising workflow and delivery firm Peach has hired Emily Young as UKI Sales Director. Young joins Peach with 15 years’ experience in digital media sales spanning press, broadcast, pureplay digital, influencer marketing and most recently, shoppable tech for companies including Channel 5, Yahoo, Takumi and Smartzer. Young will report to Mathieu Brisset, Vice President, EMEA, Peach who said: “We are delighted to welcome Emily to the Peach family. Her wealth of experience in Digital Media and more recently the high growth area of Shoppable Video will enable Peach to grow faster in the digital video sector as we continue to expand our capabilities and fulfil our mission to fix how advertising works – further simplifying and automating the creative workflow.”
Huge has appointed four senior hires to leadership positions. Marisa Todd becomes Executive Creative Director; Katherine Jones-Siemsen, Head of Product and Technology; Kim Nguyen, Head of Distributed Commerce; and Nina Osborne, Head of Strategy. With growing fragmentation of the almost $4.9 trillion digital commerce market, Huge said the expansion will help to support a number of high-profile new initiatives. This includes the launch of the Commerce Channel Navigator, an assessment offering designed for brands to prioritize third-party social, search, and marketplace selling channels to maximize revenue and consumer engagement.
Tether Games, which develops skill-based games, has appointed Sara Stapleton as General Counsel, Chief Business Officer and Secretary. Stapleton most recently served as Vice President Acquisitions and Business Affairs at Zynga, where she led investment, partnership and M&A strategy for the social casino team. She will leverage her 20 years’ experience in the Silicon Valley among private equity, private and public companies, and venture capital firms in acquisitions and divestitures, joint ventures, minority investments and structured finance transactions to help further drive Tether Games’ next phase of growth.
