OkayMedia has announced that author, award-winning journalist, and former CNN International anchor Isha Sesay has been appointed to the role of CEO. Sesay will combine her decades of reporting experience –including groundbreaking global coverage of social injustice and the experiences of women and girls – and entrepreneurial spirit to the visionary team at OkayMedia. Sesay has also been appointed to the OkayMedia board of directors and named co-founder and CEO of OkayMedia’s new production arm, SPKN/WRD.
IRI has appointed Kirk Perry, Google’s President of Global Client & Agency Solutions, as President and CEO and a member of its Board of Directors, effective May 17, 2021. Perry joins IRI from Google, where he has served as President of Global Client & Agency Solutions since 2013. Prior to joining Google, Perry spent more than two decades at Procter & Gamble (P&G) in leadership and marketing roles, including most recently as President of P&G Global Family Care, a multi-billion dollar global business, which included the Bounty, Charmin and Puffs brands. He also served as Vice President of P&G U.S. Operations and North America Marketing.
XPO Logistics, a global provider of transport and logistics solutions, has announced that Sandeep Sakharkar will become the Chief Information Officer of GXO Logistics, Inc., the intended spin-off of XPO’s logistics segment. Sakharkar currently serves as XPO’s senior vice president – logistics technology. He will lead GXO’s global systems development when the logistics segment’s technology organization transitions to GXO. Sakharkar’s 20-year career includes roles as global vice president – core retail and infrastructure with Foot Locker, Inc., and EMEA director of digital technology with Johnson & Johnson. Earlier, he served as Johnson & Johnson’s IT director for the Asia Pacific region and as practice head with Cognizant Technology Services in Europe.
On-demand software teams startup Distributed, has announced the appointment of Travis Ousley as its Head of People. Ousley joins the company from US-based virtual events startup Brazen where he served as the firm’s Director of People and Culture, following his move from Andela in 2020. Ousley brings 16 years of recruitment, leadership and mentorship experience to the business, having previously led the global recruitment teams and functions at Andela, Axiom and Managed by Q.
Doubleverify has made two new strategic senior EMEA hires. Nick Reid joins as Regional Vice President for Northern Europe and will be responsible for leading the execution of DV’s growth strategy in the UK, Benelux, Nordics and MENA. Ex-Adobe Advertising Cloud as Global Head of Agency Partnerships, Reid has 20 years of experience allowing him to execute strong global agency strategy across multiple advertising channels. Reid will integrate DV’s data-led solutions to help brands optimise their campaign performance in today’s evolving digital ecosystem. Doubleverify also welcomes Michael Fuhrmann as Regional Vice President, DACH and Central Eastern Europe. Coming from Google as Head of Networks & Emerging, Global Partnerships DACH, Fuhrman is well versed in the region and will serve to ensure brand safety is withheld and help partners deliver quality solutions across the advertising environment.
WPP announces the appointment of Sara Rose as Executive Creative Director for Boots UK as a part of the agency’s global strategic partnership with Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA). In her new role, Rose will lead the new WPP creative team for Boots and is charged with delivering bold purpose-driven creative campaigns. She joined the team on March 15 and is based in London. Prior to joining WPP, Rose was the Group Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi London. She has held leadership roles at Mother London, 72andsunny, Ogilvy London and DDB California. Her experience in-house and at several agencies will be vital in helping maximising WPP’s connectivity with Boots and uncovering new opportunities for partnership.
DLMDD, the specialist sonic branding agency, has announced the appointment of Aurelia Havet as Senior Account Director, bringing over 20 years of experience in global music strategy and brand partnerships to the business as it embarks on its next phase of growth. Havet has spent the last 20 years collaborating with many of the world’s leading musicians and artists, including David Guetta, Jax Jones, Metronomy, Iggy Pop, Bob Sinclar, Ed Sheeran, Novelist, The Libertines, PJ Harvey, Placebo, Supergrass, Maya Jama, Beverley Knight and Joss Stone, to name a few. Her experience in sonic branding includes the design of HSBC’s first-ever global sound identity in collaboration with Jean-Michel Jarre and saw its implementation across 66 markets through all touchpoints from advertising to social, experiential, call centres and branches.
Radioactive PR has made two new exciting hires. Anders Nilsson has been named as the Managing Director of Radioactive PR. Nilsson spent eleven years at GoCompare where he led product, brand and financial PR, investor relations, public affairs, social media, SEO, and content. Having started his career at Chepstow-based tech PR firm Cohesive, he returned to agency life full-time in 2020 by setting up communications consultancy Feral, working with a wide variety of clients in the financial services, crypto, energy, fintech, motoring and charity sectors.
Richard Leonard joins the company in its first parent company hire, named as the Managing Director of the Radioactive Group. With more than twenty years of experience, Leonard joins the Radioactive Group to support the development of current companies and lead its expansion into other service offerings. Leonard co-founded integrated comms agency Brazil at the age of 26, building a client portfolio that included 118 118, Honda, Dixons Group, AXA, Swiftcover and GfK NOP before exiting eight years later. Since exiting, Leonard has been the head of PR for Three Mobile, and worked closely with Honda Motor Europe and Honda UK, managing major briefs across events, video, media relations, CSR and more.
Virtual and hybrid event platform Glisser has announced the appointment of two new board members and a new senior hire as it focuses on growth. Steve Pedrick has joined as Chief Revenue Officer, David Hose has joined as Board Director, and Bill Portelli as Chair. As a CEO advisor, board director, and private equity/venture CEO, Glisser’s new Chair Bill Portelli has helped create billions of dollars of incremental enterprise value and tech company revenues through the creation of breakout strategies and business models, the building of award-winning products and the coaching of high-impact CEOs and their teams.
Board Director David Hose is a seasoned technology executive and serial entrepreneur. With more than 35 years as founder, CEO, investor, board member, and advisor for more than 40 companies over the course of his career. He was the founder and CEO of Signalsoft, a pioneer in the development of location-based services for mobile phones, which he took public and later sold to OpenWave, and was CEO Of Napster/Rhapsody from 2014, and CEO of AirMap from 2018-2020. Steve Pedrick has joined Glisser as CRO. Prior to Glisser, Pedrick was an Operating Partner at Downing Ventures focused on helping early and mid-stage portfolio companies succeed. He has spent his career building and scaling B2B technology companies. He’s worked across a range of stages and categories and focuses most on building successful sales organisations, growing strategic partnerships, and developing commercial initiatives that drive revenue.
