Five new recruits have joined the team at award-winning Leeds-based digital agency, Bolser, following record growth and a recent King’s Award for Enterprise win. Leading the hires, Richard Stephenson joins as the agency’s technical lead. He has two decades of experience in web development for start-ups and major brands including Sainsbury’s and Nike as a consultant. Richard will head up a team of nine, working across a wide range of clients from Microsoft to the National Theatre and fast-growing Leeds business, Garolla. Stephenson is joined by two front-end developers, Jacob Marsey and Calvin Gomes. Marsey joins from digital transformation agency, Calls9, and before that, Aviva Rail North. Gomes joins from U Energy and brings global expertise from the UK and Indian tech scenes. Digital marketers, Cerys Moore and Brooke Sanders complete the set. Moore, a performance marketing analyst, brings a background in data and performance marketing. Sanders joins with a comprehensive digital marketing background having worked across multiple Leeds digital agencies.
Sky Media has announced the appointment of Matt Hill as the new Director of Insight & Measurement, following a comprehensive search process. Hill will be joining from Thinkbox where he established himself as an influential industry thought leader in the insight space. He will start the role in February replacing Lucy Bristowe, who left earlier this year. With over 20 years of experience in media, Hill brings a wealth of expertise to Sky. He will be responsible for all Sky Media’s measurement, research and insight teams and programmes across both TV and digital. During his time at Thinkbox he spearheaded numerous groundbreaking and award-winning research initiatives that have profoundly influenced the TV and advertising industries.During his time at Thinkbox, Hill designed, commissioned, and delivered a series of acclaimed research studies. He was also instrumental in leading the collaboration among broadcasters that resulted in the wider adoption of CFlight and led the team that designed, authored & delivered the Thinkbox ‘TV Masters’ training programme that has now been completed by over 6,000 media professionals.
Emma Inston, who has held senior marketing roles at Bupa and Newcross Healthcare, joins digital cancer care platform, Careology, as its first Chief Marketing Officer. Inston’s award-winning career has seen her play pivotal roles in launches from Spire Healthcare to Hive by British Gas, and E.ON’s new sustainable energy solutions across Europe which doubled customer perception of the brand as an innovative provider. Ineston brings these skills to her new role as CMO at Careology, which works with the NHS, insurers, and private providers including Nuffield Health and Lloyd’s Pharmacy Clinical Homecare, connecting patients to their clinical teams and caregivers. She will oversee all aspects of digital, brand and product marketing, as well as communications.
Fruugo, a global online marketplace platform, has appointed Fergal Gara as its new chief operations officer (COO). In this role, Gara will draw on his deep retail and technology experience to lead Fruugo’s business operations and drive the company’s continued growth. Before joining Fruugo, Gara served as chief commercial officer (CCO) at CMS Distribution, a specialist distributor, where he led commercial strategy and operations across the UK, Europe and USA. Prior to CMS Distribution, he held several roles at Amazon, including director of technology and operations at Amazon Fashion, where he led internal transformation programmes, implementation of new automation and business intelligence tools and delivery of operational improvement programmes. He also served as director for IT, office products and UK pricing, leading high growth categories at a key time in Amazon’s development. Gara has deep sector knowledge and has led multiple change programmes and acquisitions across the European and US markets. In his new role, he will bring his expertise to steer Fruugo’s sales and marketing activity, to build awareness and drive customer engagement across key regions.
Captify, the leading provider of real-time audiences and insights fuelled by Search Intelligence, has announced the appointment of industry leader Jane Wolfson to the position of President, International. In this newly created role, Wolfson will oversee Captify’s commercial business outside of North America, including responsibility for the commercial teams in the UK and Australia. Wolfson, who will be based in London, will start her role on 17th September, and report directly to Captify CEO, Mike Welch. Wolfson brings a wealth of leadership experience in the digital advertising industry, most recently serving as Chief Commercial Officer at Hearst UK, where she was responsible for leading the commercial arm of Hearst UK and Hearst Global Solutions, driving advertising revenue and media partnerships across 20 iconic multi-platform brands. She has held a number of leadership positions including at media agency Initiative, part of IPG Group. In 2020, she was named as one of Ad Age’s 20 Women to Watch in Europe and has been recognised in Campaign’s Top 10 Commercial Chiefs.
Incremental, a leader in neutral retail media measurement, has expanded its leadership team with the appointment of Alex Juday as Senior Vice President of Commerce Strategy. Juday, who has a proven track record of success driving growth and innovation at companies including Pacvue and Procter & Gamble, will be responsible for overseeing Incremental’s commerce strategy. The new role will be particularly focused on driving growth through fostering innovation with partners, where Juday will play a pivotal role in deepening Incremental connections with retailers and media platforms. Juday previously held executive roles at Ecommerce advertising company Pacvue, where he led global agency partnerships. He also worked at Procter & Gamble for nearly seven years, where he managed the company’s Ecommerce on Amazon. He will be based in New York City and will report directly to Dave Pollet, CEO at Incremental.
Netcall, a leading provider of AI-powered automation and customer engagement solutions, has appointed Jaime Guercio as the company’s first-ever Senior Solution Consultant for adult and child social care. Guerico will be focused on providing transformative digital solutions to meet the unique demands placed on the sector – including solidifying Netcall’s market offering and tackling the social care crisis head-on. She brings with her a wealth of social care, process improvement, and change management experience, having worked on digital transformation projects in both public and private sector organisations throughout her career. Previous experience includes over 12 years at Dorset County Council with positions including Efficiency and Business Change Lead, and Digital and Change Business Partner for Adult Social Care. Within these roles, Jaime delivered the digital strategy to support the council’s social care transformation programme, ensuring the right tools and funding were in place for success.
The Insights Family, specialising in kids, teens, parents, and family market intelligence, has expanded its operations with the growth of its team in London and New York. Headquartered in Manchester, The Insights Family is poised for growth following significant investment from BGF – one of the largest and most experienced investors in the UK and Ireland. It marks a pivotal moment for The Insights Family as it continues to strengthen its global footprint, with the United States leading the international expansion efforts. Joining the executive team to spearhead this growth are Joe Timson, appointed as Executive Vice President of Revenue, and Greg Dagger, as Vice President of Customer Success. Timson brings over 15 years of experience in research tech, stepping into the role of EVP Revenue to lead the company’s sales, customer success, and partnerships teams. Joe’s previous experience includes working at GWI, Zappi, MediaProbe, Kantar and Loops, where he built and led high-performing go-to-market teams with a focus on driving customer impact. Dagger has spent the last 12 years at YouGov, leading its client team and supporting the growth and expansion of its product portfolio, bringing more than a decade of experience in market research to the role. Dagger’s unique expertise in productising client needs will play a pivotal role in shaping The Insights Family’s go-to-market strategy and underscore the value the company can offer its extensive client base.
Stagwell’s (STGW) leading global media agency, Assembly, has appointed Samantha Scott as Managing Partner in Europe. Drawing on Scott’s extensive experience in media and client leadership, she will lead a key team to deliver best-in-class work and propel exceptional growth for the company’s leading clients, including hotel group Mandarin Oriental and skincare brand Aesop. Scott will report to James Appleby, Managing Director, UK, and her appointment is effective immediately. Scott joins Assembly from Dentsu X, where she served as the Managing Partner and saw success taking media-only clients and evolving them into broader relationships across their Media, Creative and Customer Experience practices. During her twelve-year tenure at Dentsu, Scott led digital products and global performance media for Apple, focusing on driving revenue growth for Apps and subscription services and worked on a host of other European and Global client assignments. Scott will leverage her prowess and skillset in the industry to support in bolstering Assembly Europe’s expertise in elevating brand performance for clients through innovative AI-driven solutions.
Multilocal, a leader in programmatic curation, is excited to announce significant growth and strategic advancements in the first half of 2024. The company has doubled its SSP partnerships, introduced its CarbonSmart solution for advertisers, and reinforced its sustainability commitment by joining the Ad Net Zero initiative. The launch of Curation as a Service (CaaS) has been a key driver in expanding Multilocal’s work with publishers to help them maximise audience monetisation. A notable addition to the team is Rafal Dworak, appointed as Product Partnerships Lead, a newly created role. Reporting to Fern Potter, SVP of Strategy and Partnerships, Dworak will lead Multilocal’s third-party product strategy and manage global product partnerships. He will work closely with the commercial strategy and leadership teams to develop industry-leading solutions that keep Multilocal at the forefront of the curation space. He brings over a decade of experience in Ad Tech, having previously held key positions at InMobi, Hybrid Theory, RTB House, and MiQ.
Tech-enabled carbon neutral courier Packfleet has appointed Robert Collings as Chief Financial Officer. Collings has more than a decade of experience in the accounting industry, and was promoted into the role having previously been Packfleet’s Head of Finance. The chartered accountant recently supported the business through its recent Series A fundraise, in which Packfleet secured over £8m from General Catalyst and Voyager Ventures. Off the back of the fundraise, Collings’ expertise will help bolster Packfleet’s established presence in the London delivery market and support the courier’s increasing roster of merchants. Now, as Packfleet gears up to cement its foothold within the M25, his expertise will help to take Packfleet to the next level.
