Omnicom Media Group (OMG) agency OMD UK has named Suzy Ryder CEO, effective immediately. In her new role, Ryder – who has been Chief Digital Officer at OMD UK since 2021 – will be responsible for leading the agency, focused on the continued development and future growth of the agency’s client partnerships, commercial operations, product, talent and culture. During her tenure as Chief Digital Officer, Ryder was responsible for bringing new and meaningful solutions and opportunities to clients across a range of priority areas to enable them to expand, grow, and evolve how they use media, data, and technology to achieve better business outcomes. Internally, Ryder transformed OMD’s operating model, ensuring the agency is set up to leverage parent company OMG’s Agency as a Platform approach, connecting media, content and commerce to deliver better outcomes for clients. Her impact was evidenced in some of the highest-ever client satisfaction scores the agency has seen and the extension of multiple key contracts. Ryder also played a pivotal role in leading the industry-acknowledged best-in-class global partnership with Barclays, alongside powering OMD’s recent new business success, with wins including Compare the Market and British Gas.
Leagas Delaney London has hired award-winning Creative Director Kit Dayaram. Dayaram has been brought into Leagas Delaney after a year of strong and sustained new business performance, with a remit to work across the agency’s client base. Dayaram is one of London’s most recognisable creative leaders, having worked in senior roles at agencies including BBC Creative, Wieden+Kennedy, Mother and Lucky Generals – joining at its inception to work alongside founder Danny Brooke-Taylor. Dayaram has won a host of awards in his career for a wide range of clients including British Airways, Beck’s and TFL, for whom he won a Cannes Gold for ‘Awareness Test’. Other notable work includes the development of the ‘Believe in Better’ platform for Sky and ‘The White Russian’ campaign for Kaluha, working with Academy Award Winner Jeff Bridges.
Exabeam, a global cybersecurity specialist that delivers AI-driven security operations, has announced the appointment of Steve Wilson to Chief Product Officer (CPO). In his role, Wilson will lead Exabeam’s product management and product marketing teams to continue to drive innovation in the company’s AI-driven security operations and New-Scale SIEM product portfolio. Wilson will report to CEO Adam Geller. Wilson is a leader and innovator in AI, cybersecurity, and cloud computing, with over 20 years of experience leading high-performance teams to build mission-critical enterprise software and high-leverage platforms. Before joining Exabeam, he served as CPO at Contrast Security leading all aspects of product development, including strategy, product management, product marketing, product design, and engineering.
TomTom, the location technology specialist, has announced that it has appointed Bahram Zonooz as VP of Engineering and Applied Science. At TomTom, Bahram will lead the company’s ambitions to put TomTom Orbis Maps at the forefront of a new tech revolution. With a Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience and his work published in top-tier research journals, Bahram brings over 15 years of AI and machine learning experience to his new role. Bahram joins TomTom HQ from The Eindhoven University of Technology. Before this, he was Chief AI Scientist at NavInfo (Europe) B.V., where his team significantly contributed to shaping the landscape of next-generation automation, leading to numerous patents and opening new directions for AI research and development.
Ozone, the digital advertising platform built for brands, by publishers, has announced the promotions of Bryan Scott and Matthew Townsend to Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Product Officer respectively. Scott, who joined the business in September 2019, will have overall responsibility for all of Ozone’s advertiser, agency and publisher communications, brand-building activities, and marketing and event strategies. In the role of Chief Marketing Officer, he will also oversee the management of Studiozone – the company’s new in-house design centre – introduced to provide creative solutions for both advertising clients and Ozone’s own marketing team. Scott will also lead on expanding staff engagement and internal communications to maintain and build on Ozone’s culture. Townsend, who has been part of the Ozone family since October 2019, will lead the team responsible for building on existing products and developing new tools for both Ozone’s advertising customers and publishing partners. In the role of Chief Product Officer, he will be at the centre of developing new capabilities to tackle the industry-wide challenges presented by future macro changes. In particular, 2024 will see a huge focus on scaling Ozone’s post third-party cookie solutions for both buyers and sellers, and building new innovations that support and differentiate the platform’s premium web proposition.
Kantar, the marketing data and analytics company, has appointed Mark Standley as managing director of its UK analytics practice. Standley joined Kantar in 2009 and was previously head of innovation at the business. He will now oversee the analytics practice’s ongoing growth and development, including its investment in artificial intelligence (AI). Kantar acquired the Hamilton AI platform last year – the power behind its UMMO (Unified Marketing Measurement and Optimisation) tool. UMMO enables marketers to optimise their media budgets in close to real-time, ensuring the right investment strategies to balance long-term brand building with driving sales in the short term. Standley’s emphasis will be on using technology to speed up analysis while drawing on the knowledge of Kantar’s experts to help clients understand how they should act on findings.
Leapwork has appointed Board Members Lou Shipley and two new members of the management team: Mike Anand as Chief Marketing Officer and Robert Salesas as Chief Technology Officer. Member of the Board and independent advisor Lou Shipley was previously President and CEO of Black Duck Software, where he grew the valuation of the security company by over 300% and led it to a successful acquisition by Synopsys. Prior to Black Duck, Shipley served as President and CEO of Turbonomic (acquired by IBM) and Reflectent Software (acquired by Citrix Systems). Shipley also serves on Wasbi, Fairmarkit, TeamWorks, and CustomerGauge boards. Anand has spent over 15 years building, pitching, and growing products at various stages of many successful companies, with a proven track record of driving exponential growth. His passion for customer experience and storytelling led him on a journey deep into Product Marketing, starting with AppDynamics (acquired by Cisco for almost USD $4 billion) where he played a critical role in transforming the story of application analytics into business performance and then to Amazon Web Services where he led go-to-market for Observability Portfolio (Amazon CloudWatch and AWS X-Ray) and then for AWS Container Services. Most recently, Anand held a position as CMO of Redis, Inc. Chief Technology Officer Robert Salesas was previously Chief Technology Officer / Chief Product Officer at Aircall, growing their annual revenue to USD $130 million. Before Aircall, Salesas served as Chief Technology Officer at Condeco. Throughout his career, Salesas has gained in-depth experience developing sophisticated software solutions to meet the needs of a diverse customer base, including SaaS applications and AI-powered products.
Global B2B technology marketing specialist, Fox Agency, has appointed experienced agency leader, Paul O’Malley, to establish its first US-based office in New York and lead the agency’s growth in the US market. O’Malley joins the agency as its new Chief Operating Officer – North America, bringing over 15 years of B2B experience to the role. Prior to joining Fox Agency, O’Malley was responsible for Kingpin Communication’s expansion into the US. Over a period of five years, he built the business from the ground up to over $50m in revenue with a 90% employee retention rate, at which point the agency was sold to The Marketing Practice.
Adludio, the AI-powered platform delivering attention-led and data-driven mobile advertising, has announced the appointment of Chris Allan as CEO. Taking up the helm from interim CEO, Richard Simons, Allan will lead the business in developing partnerships and expanding opportunities globally, as well as oversee the upcoming launch of its pioneering software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering. A veteran of the international technology industry, Allan has a proven track record of increasing sales and operational efficiencies as well as delivering growth and profitability in both privately funded and start-up environments. Allan joins Adludio from the software asset management service, Livingstone Group, where he was CEO from 2021 until the business was acquired by Trustmarque at the start of 2023.
Kroll, a provider of global risk and financial advisory solutions, has announced the appointment of Julian Marsh as Managing Director in Kroll’s Financial Services Compliance and Regulation practice. Marsh brings over 25 years of experience in the banking sector, having supported some of the largest banking institutions in executing complex, largescale multi-jurisdictional regulatory and business transformation projects across all aspects of the enterprise. Based in London, Marsh will be focused on expanding Kroll’s capabilities and footprint in the banking sector, advising clients on risk management, compliance and regulatory processes, and governance-related matters. He will be working with the c-suite at wholesale and investment banks to ensure that organisations are best prepared for the shifting business, regulatory and compliance landscape.
Netcall, a provider of AI-powered automation and customer engagement solutions, has announced that John Clarke has been appointed as Head of Client Solutions – Health. Clarke brings with him a wealth of experience from the health sector, having worked in the industry for over two decades. He was most recently the CIO at St Andrew’s Healthcare, a major multi-site charity providing specialist mental healthcare for patients with some of the most complex, challenging mental health needs in the UK – a position he held for four years.
The Kent-based search agency Reflect Digital is thrilled to announce the appointment of Lottie Namakando as their new Head of Paid Media. Lottie Namakando, who previously worked as the Head of Paid Media and Planning at the digital agency iCrossing, brings a wealth of experience and expertise to her new role. Her impressive track record includes working with renowned brands such as M&S Clothing & Home and M&S Food, Welsh Gov, Virgin Experience Days, Fidelity, Nature’s Best, and Hearst Travel, where she expanded her proficiency in programmatic activation and strategy. Before her tenure at iCrossing, Namakando held the position of Head of Search and Social at the digital marketing agency Brainlabs. In this role, she ran a dedicated team and managed client relationships for brands including TSB, 118 Money, New Day, Sky Betting and Gaming, and Which? As the Head of Paid Media at Reflect Digital, Namakando will be responsible for overseeing and nurturing the Paid Media team within the agency. Her strategic vision centres around behavioural science and adopting an audience-first, best-in-class approach to paid media. This approach involves the development of cutting-edge tools and technology, including the utilisation of automation, machine learning and AI, to support strategic opportunities and enhance paid media delivery.
