Chloe Hubbard has been named UK Editor of The Independent, while Stephanie Fabb has been appointed as Chief Data Officer for Independent Media, The Independent’s parent company. Hubbard, who originally joined The Independent in 2017 as Assistant Editor, is elevated to the role of UK Editor following 18 months in post as Deputy Editor. She will report to Global Editor-in-Chief Geordie Greig. Fabb joins Independent Media from Hearst, where she spent three years as Chief Data Officer. She takes on a global remit for Independent Media, focusing on leveraging data as a strategic asset to drive growth across its portfolio of brands.
Commerce media company Criteo has appointed Michael Komasinski as its Chief Executive Officer and member of the board, effective 15 February 2025. He will succeed Megan Clarken, who is retiring. Komasinski currently serves as CEO of the Americas, President of Global Data & Technology, and member of the Group Executive Management team at Dentsu. He joined Dentsu through its acquisition of Merkle in 2016 and led both the EMEA and Americas regions before becoming Global CEO of Merkle in 2021. At Merkle, he oversaw a staff of more than 14,000 employees in over 50 locations throughout the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. He previously served in leadership positions at Razorfish, Schawk Retail Marketing, The Nielsen Company, and A.T. Kearney.
Adtech company Utiq has confirmed the appointments of Pagel Colin and Thomas Bailly. Joining Utiq as Director of Global Clients, Colin will spearhead global commercialisation efforts. He brings 14 years of international experience from adtech companies including Criteo, Weborama, and LiveRamp. Bailly, who has become Director of Global Agencies, will develop global go-to-market strategy for agencies, foster partnerships, and build processes for growth. He joins after almost two decades of experience at business including Microsoft, AOL/Verizon Media, Twitter, and Pinterest.
The Professional Publishers Association (PPA) has named Lisa Smoasarski, Editorial Director at Stylist, as the new Chair of its Next Gen board. Smosarski will be joined by Adrian Newton Commercial Director, New Scientist; Jackie Scully, Executive Director, Think; Stuart Forrest, Global SEO Director, Bauer; Sophie Eke, Chief Marketing Officer, ARC; and Sajeeda Merali, CEO, PPA, as mentors for the PPA Next Gen Board members.
App growth solutions company SplitMetrics has announced that Eoin Hallahan has joined the team as its new Chief Revenue Officer. Hallahan brings 16 years of sales expertise, with over a decade in senior leadership roles across adtech, martech, and B2B startups. His career spans positions including Enterprise Sales Director for EMEA Gaming at Meta, Managing Director EMEA & APAC at NextRoll (formerly AdRoll Group), a four-year tenure in Google’s sales department, and most recently leading EMEA & LATAM Sales at Supermetrics. SplitMetrics has also hired Dan de Vries as Product Director, who joins from Data.ai, where he served for nearly five years as Director of Product and Tech.
Ecommerce agency Visualsoft has named Chris Fletcher as its new CEO. Fletcher first joined Visualsoft in 2016 as Channel Development Manager, before making his way up the ranks of the company and serving mostly recently as Chief Operating Officer. His experience prior to Visualsoft includes stints at brands Berghaus, and Barker and Stonehouse.
System1, a platform that harnesses the power of emotion to predict the commercial success of advertising, has appointed Tristan Findlay as Managing Director of Innovation. Findlay brings nearly two decades of market research experience focused on innovation. His career began at Nielsen BASES, where he partnered with some of the world’s largest FMCG organisations, leading projects across global markets. In 2018, Findlay joined Zappi as Head of Innovation Practice, where he designed and launched new solutions, scaled partnerships, and helped drive growth for the innovation function. Later, he served as Chief Growth Officer at MMR, a global research company specialising in product and sensory innovation. Most recently, Findlay held leadership roles at Toluna, including UK Sales Director and Group Commercial Director. He also served as the UK AI champion, advising on the use of AI to enhance research capabilities.
