A Million Ads has welcomed media industry leader Paul Kelly as Chief Revenue Officer. An astute sales and marketing executive, Kelly has led creative and commercial teams for a variety of prominent media organisations. He has helped shape and actively scale the commercial strategy for a number of high-growth digital companies including AwesomenessTV, Team Whistle, Watchmojo and GoldieBlox. His experiences gave him first-hand knowledge about brand activity outside above the line advertising, including advanced customer service and product development.
Digital agency Organic has appointed Gillian Meier as its Head of Digital Marketing, a new role for the agency. Meier will be responsible for the creation and delivery of digital marketing strategies across all accounts and disciplines. She will also provide expert advice and guidance across a full range of digital marketing solutions to clients and the team. Previously CEO & Global Head at Digital Consultancy and Training Company, BlueMagnet (a business that she founded), Meier brings with her 24 years of award-winning experience in the digital sphere. She has been instrumental in strategising and executing digital platform business models; digital marketing & digital strategies across various industries, specifically within eCommerce; Online Marketplaces; Online Recruitment and eLearning verticals across a multitude of global accounts.
Data-powered integrated agency, Jaywing, has added to the senior leadership of its Performance and Media Science team with the appointments of Kay Henderson as Operations Manager and Chris Langan as Organic Media Director. Formerly Search Director at McCann Connected, where he spent four years growing the agency’s organic media offering, Langan has over 10 years of experience in SEO. He will apply his considerable expertise to improving integration at Jaywing and driving growth across search strategies. Henderson comes to Jaywing with a wealth of knowledge, having experience with start-ups, web-builds and mobile marketing, most recently holding the position of Operations Manager at Fonemedia where she oversaw bespoke customisation of the agency’s CRM system.
Darktrace has made several appointments to bolster its board of directors, with the addition of some renowned and respected names from across the technology and business sectors. Sir Peter Bonfield has joined the board of directors as a non-executive director. The former BT Group CEO, Bonfield has more than 50 years of experience in the international technology sector. Paul Harrison joins the board alongside Sir Peter as a non-executive director and Chair of the Audit Committee. Harrison’s previous roles include Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director at Ascential plc, a FTSE 250 data and analytics company, and CFO for JustEat and The Sage Group.
Former Tory minister Lord David Willetts has also been announced as a further non-executive director to the board. Finally, the appointment of Gordon Hurst, who will succeed Robert Webb QC as Chair. Hurst has served on the Darktrace Board as a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee since August 2019 and has significant experience in financial and operational management, having previously served as Group Finance Director at Capita plc for 19 years until February 2015.
Covatic has readied itself for its next phase of growth by hiring Daniel Pike as Chief Product Officer. Pike joins Covatic at the start of April and brings 20 years’ experience in media, and will be focused on refining the product and delivering value to clients whilst expanding Covatic’s offering as it moves into new markets. As Head of Strategy at the BBC, Pike led the strategic case for a transformational shift in the BBC’s £1.4bn commercial activities, including the launch of subscription video on demand (SVOD) offers in the UK and USA, the closure of BBC Store and the acquisition of UKTV.
Finecast, an addressable TV provider, has announced the appointment of Laura Lilley as Chief Operating Officer and Nicola Lewis as Chief Growth Officer as part of its ambitious international expansion plans. Laura Lilley will join as the Global Chief Operating Officer of Finecast, responsible for the operational implementation of the company strategy to support global business scale and growth. An experienced senior operations leader, Laura Lilley has held roles across a number of industries, most recently within large multinationals, Barclays Bank and KPMG. Lilley brings a wealth of experience across operations, commercial and strategy roles, with a focus on large scale transformation.
Nicola Lewis has been appointed as Global Chief Growth Officer, responsible for leading Finecast’s engagement with agencies and clients and delivering industry-leading addressable TV solutions to brands and advertisers internationally. Lewis will lead Finecast’s expansion into new markets in line with the strategic direction of Finecast, building partnerships with media owners worldwide and cementing the company as a leader in the future of television. Before joining Finecast, Lewis held the position of Chief Investment Officer, GroupM Australia since 2018, having previously worked at Mindshare Australia, also as Chief Investment Officer.
spelfie – the space selfie has announced the appointment of former Gartner International CEO Graham Norton-Standen as Chairman with immediate effect. Norton-Standen has led, turned-around and grown companies with thousands of employees and many billions of dollars of annual revenues, including as CEO of information technologies leader Gartner International, and division president for technology leaders Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and Electronic Data Systems (EDS, now DXC Technology.) He has served as Chairman, senior board member or advisor to a variety of organisations globally which include British Telecom (BT), Cable & Wireless, Deutsche Bank, Hewlett Packard, P&O, Reuters, Tata Group and Unisys, to name a few.
LogMeIn, Inc. has announced that security and privacy veteran, Michael Oberlaender, has joined the company as its new Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). Oberlaender will be responsible for managing and growing LogMeIn’s security programme, including infrastructure, applications and overall data security for both internal systems and the company’s suite of award-winning software products. A 30-year industry veteran with extensive security leadership experience holding CISO positions in various industries and markets, Oberlaender has played a critical role in securing those companies data assets, brands, and systems.
JOE Media has appointed Paul Coldham to lead its creative commercial content arm as the social-first publisher continues to bolster its client offering following its acquisition by Greencastle Capital in 2020. As Head of Creative, Coldham will build on the existing high quality creative and content output for JOE Media, working closely with clients to devise impactful partnered content and innovative creative ideas that complement their focus on long-form, broadcast quality content. Coldham has over 20 years of experience in commercial partnerships and creative delivery, most recently as Group Creative Director at marketing agency Found, where he also headed up its influencer agency, Disrupt. Prior to this, he was Executive Creative Director at Formation Films, the dedicated branded content division for GiveMeSport, which produces high quality branded content in the sport and lifestyle sectors.
WPP has announced 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. In her new role, Rose will lead the new WPP creative team for Boots and is charged with delivering bold purpose-driven creative campaigns. 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.
Freshworks Inc. has appointed veteran Software as a Service visionary Stacey Epstein as Chief Marketing Officer. Epstein brings over 25 years of industry experience, fueling startups to high-growth multi-billion dollar companies. Epstein was ranked as one of the ‘Top 50 women leaders in SaaS of 2020’ by The Software Report and hailed as the ‘Global CMO of the Year’ by Enterprise IT World. Previously, Epstein has worked with SuccessFactors Inc, Service Max and served as CEO of Zinc Inc.
Brand Advance, the global diversity media network, has appointed Melanie Lawson-Wall as Director of People and Wellbeing. Drawing on her 18 years of experience in coaching and development, Lawson-Wall will be responsible for devising and deploying a new HR and wellbeing framework for the business. Having started her career as a performance coach in the education space, Lawson-Wall has provided leadership advice to businesses including Deltatre, the sports and technology provider, on how it could improve its wellbeing offering and champion inclusivity. She is also the founder of Assist Coaching and textcoaches.
Digital health platform, Changing Health, has expanded its technology and leadership team with the appointment of Jacob Sunol as CTO and technical leader. Sunol will be fundamental in focussing on the behavioural, organisational and technical challenges that will enable people to prevent, reverse or survive some of the world’s most chronic conditions including diabetes, heart disease and mental health. Following previous roles at global health heavyweights including Roche and Ipsen where he delivered artificial intelligence products and led a team working across digital biomarkers, patient engagement and support platforms and numerous R&D innovations, Sunol brings a skill set focused on web and mobile technologies, AI and algorithms.
Finance AI software company AppZen has announced that Mark Haywood has joined the company as Vice President Sales EMEA. In the role, Haywood will be responsible for driving the company’s growth objectives, enhancing customer success, and expanding the team in EMEA. Haywood joins AppZen with over 21 years of experience working in technology, helping to scale the European operations of hyper-growth companies such as ServiceNow and MongoDB. Most recently, Haywood served as Director of Sales at Perspectium, growing the European sales team and guiding solution architecture, customer relationships and marketing.
Langland has announced that Mike Brightley has joined its advertising discipline as Creative Director. With over 14 years of healthcare advertising experience, Brightley has built up an eclectic portfolio working at Ogilvy Healthworld, PAN and most recently as Associate Creative Director at TBWA\WorldHealth. During the course of his extensive career Brightley has worked on insightful campaigns, applied emotion-recognition technology for adaptive storytelling and made a documentary on surfing doctors.
Eurofins Digital Testing has appointed Sharon Hamilton as its UK Managing Director. Formerly Managing Director of Edge Testing Solutions, Hamilton is now in charge of Eurofins Digital Testing’s expanding services portfolio, which includes testing of systems, security and devices across the UK. Hamilton’s new role as UK Managing Director sees her take responsibility for three businesses now operating under the umbrella brand of Eurofins Digital Testing, software testing via Edge Testing Solutions, security via cyber and information security services provider, known as Commissum, and devices testing via digital product testing services provider, formally known as Digital TV Labs.
Brand Metrics has announced the expansion of its London team. Its UK office now includes Dhruv Roy, as Integrations Manager, who brings vast experience in publisher integrations and ad operations, across audio, video and TV; and Sumran Kaul, Client Lead, who brings deep expertise in insight and marketing effectiveness. Dhruv is an accomplished digital advertising specialist and has held roles in a range of businesses including Microsoft, Apple, DAZN, the BBC, Zee5 and SoundCloud. Sumran was most recently Senior Manager, Insights, at News UK, where he used research and insight to advise clients when planning and executing their marketing strategy and objectives. Sum has also held insights leadership roles at Ofcom and ITV.
Madlen Folk is to assume the role of Head of Stink Rising and Music Videos for Stink
Berlin, where her role will encompass discovering new and exciting talent, management of the Stink Rising roster, creative production, representing and promoting Stink Rising across Germany and supporting Global Head of Stink Rising & Music Video, Hannah Bellil across Europe. Previously the Head of Talent Acquisition at .fount GMBH, joining them from Czar Amsterdam, where she worked as a Producer, working for brands such as Museumnacht Amsterdam, TEDx, Grolsch, McDonald’s, Almhof, Johnnie Walker and Mercedes.
