Channel 4 has announced the appointment of Rak Patel as its Chief Commercial Officer. In this newly created role, Patel will assume leadership of Channel 4 Sales, the commercial arm of Channel 4, with responsibility for driving the organisation’s advertising revenue. A key focus of the role is to accelerate the commercial elements of Channel 4’s Fast Forward strategy, maximising revenues as it transitions from linear to digital, while pursuing new partnerships and expanding into new areas of digital growth. Patel, currently Head of Sales EMEA at Spotify, will join Channel 4 in January 2025, reporting to Chief Executive Officer Alex Mahon. Patel started his career at EMAP Magazines, followed by roles at the Financial Times, Microsoft and Auto Trader. Joining Spotify as Head of UK Sales in 2017, Patel has spent the past seven years driving commercial growth for the streaming platform.
After 18 years of service, Belinda Beeftink, Research Director at the IPA, will retire at the end of the year. Beeftink joined the IPA in January 2007, assuming responsibility for the day-to-day running of the pioneering TouchPoints survey. Launched just one year earlier, TouchPoints began as a one-off project at the request of the IPA Media Futures Group. With Beeftink’s stewardship and leadership, TouchPoints has grown into a multimillion-pound research project with over 75 subscribers, spanning agencies, media owners, and industry bodies like Ofcom. Beeftink became IPA Research Director in 2018, promoted to the role following the retirement of Lynne Robinson. In this role, she represented IPA agencies in major industry media research contracts, including ABC, BARB, JICMAIL, and Route.
The Kite Factory has appointed Publicis Media UK’s Kyle Seeley to the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer. Seeley is tasked with establishing streamlined operational oversight at the indie, driving agency profitability and leading innovation efforts to drive efficiency and automation. Reporting to CEO James Smith, he will work closely with board members and the agency’s senior leadership team to ensure alignment with strategic goals while partnering with Chief Digital Officer Ben Foster to continue to drive digital transformation and innovation within the agency. Seeley has most recently held the role of Business Development Lead for Publicis Media and previously spent six years at Spark Foundry in client leadership roles before heading up business development for the agency.
Ad tech platform TripleLift has made five new hires, alongside the opening of a new London office in Holborn. The new hires include Frazer Locke, SVP of International Sales; Richard Ottoy, UK Country Manager; Ron Lissack, EVP of Technology; Prune Nouvion, Country Manager, France; and Sofia Rabellino, SVP of Business Development.
Communications and marketing consultancy Hotwire has appointed Alex Wares as its new Executive Vice President of Marketing Services & ABM in the UK. He will be responsible for building Hotwire’s global Marketing Services proposition, working closely with his counterparts across North America and Asia, as well as driving multi-market growth through net new and organic opportunities. Wares joins Hotwire from Transmission, where he worked for seven years, leading the UK and EMEA as MD and, most recently, as global VP of Growth.
Commerce network Rithum (formerly CommerceHub and ChannelAdvisor) has announced Suzin Wold as Chief Marketing Officer and Mike Vantusko as Chief Financial Officer. Wold has spent more than 25 years in marketing leadership roles at Sama, Bazaarvoice, and Qlik, and previously held key marketing roles at companies like Rackspace, PayPal, and Procter & Gamble. Meanwhile, Vantusko has spent the last two decades as a CFO for private equity-backed software companies. Most recently, he served as CFO of MediQuant.
B2B tech marketing firm Fox Agency has appointed Jim Sampson as Senior Vice President for North America. Having joined the agency as Head of Client Services in January 2024, Sampson will assume overall responsibility for North America operations, including business strategy, commercial growth, as well as oversight of the US team and B2B tech client portfolio. Sampson has over 20 years’ experience in B2B marketing, including previous agency roles at FCB, gyro, 90octane and, The Marketing Practice.
Door4, a digital performance agency based in North West England, has made a pair of new hires: Rebecca Riley, as Business Development Manager, and Kieran Priest, as Project Manager. Riley joins into a newly created role, where she will collaborate with the senior management team, drive new business initiatives, nurture existing client relationships, and manage the agency’s commercial operations. Meanwhile, Priest – previously with MusicMagpie – will work with developers, designers, and the client management team to ensure projects are executed on time, within budget, and to the highest standards.
