Botify, the enterprise software company for performance-driven organic search, is closing out 2022 by appointing a series of global executive hires and company advisors. Former Smartly.io executive Brian Marin joined in August as Senior Vice President of Global Services. In this newly created role, Marin will launch a consulting service practice and expand professional services to meet continued customer demand. A seasoned digital marketer, Marin brings decades of SaaS experience and a proven track record building and leading services functions for companies in hyper-growth mode. Joining Marin’s growing team, Botify welcomed A.J. Ghergich as Vice President of Consulting Services to lead the rollout of Botify’s new consulting service offering. Ghergich brings more than 15 years of organic search and digital marketing experience consulting for Fortune 500 global brands. Phil Young, Vice President of Sales of Northern Europe, joined Botify in July, focusing on leading sales teams across Northern Europe including the UK, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Young will be working closely with the marketing and product teams to drive growth and ensure the highest success level for his teams. Young brings more than 25 years of experience driving sales results and joins Botify from Sitecore, the leading provider of end-to-end digital experience software, where he was Area Vice President of Northern EMEA.
Focusing on European expansion, Vincent Gonnot also joined Botify as Vice President of Sales Central/South EMEA in December. Similar to Young, Gonnot will be working alongside the marketing and product teams to ensure optimal regional growth for the company. Gonnot has more than 20 years of international sales and management experience across large companies and startups. Additionally, Steve Sadove, Principal at Stephen Sadove and Associates,has joined Botify as an advisor, helping to provide high-level counsel to inform the company’s continued growth trajectory. Throughout his career serving as CEO of several retail and consumer brands, Sadove has mastered a deep understanding of how leveraging the right technologies can transform the entire landscape for a business. He will be instrumental in helping Botify achieve amplified success as an essential solution across global organizations.
Stereo Creative has reinforced its strategy team with two new recruits. Alice Smith is a former D&AD New Blood winner, and has worked for agencies including AKQA. Mae Nguyen joins Stereo from SJR, where she was account manager. Smith and Nguyen will work alongside Stereo’s award-winning creative team, developing culturally charged strategy for clients including the BBC, Nike, Amazon Prime Video Crocs, Roberts, Berghaus and Worldpay from FIS.
Marketing performance partner Go Inspire (a Xerox company) has welcomed a new Client Development Director to its Customer Experience division. Becky Sherwin joins the group from Abacus, where she was working as an Account Director where she was working with numerous accounts to optimise their acquisition and housefile mailings using the alliance data. Sherwin will head up the team for growth and new business, as well as working on a roster of client accounts. She has a wealth of experience handling clients in the retail and mail order space – prior to her work at Abacus, she has an additional 5+ years of experience in data at companies including Acxiom, Transactis and GBG.
Team ITG, the technology-led, multichannel marketing activation business, has announced that it has appointed Ross Macdonald as Head of M&A. Macdonald, who has previously held senior positions overseeing mergers and acquisitions at e-commerce company Heroes and M&A specialists WY Partners, is tasked with leading ITG’s global growth plan. Macdonald will lead on identifying partnerships, new mergers, and acquisitions for ITG to expand the company’s footprint in Europe and the US.
SaaS data collaboration platform Optable has appointed Simon Theakston to the newly created global role of Senior Director of Solutions Consulting and Brad Jeffrey as VP, North America Sales at a time when its platform is being used by growing numbers of clients worldwide. Theakston was formerly Head of Digital Operations at iProspect, Senior Solutions Engineer at BlueKai – where he was part of the team that launched its data management platform into Europe – and global DMP Lead at Oracle. He also co-founded Silver Bullet Data Services; a specialist organisation helping brands and publishers to securely maximise the value of their first-party data. With two decades of experience, Theakston has an impressive track record in using data to power business objectives and improve customer experiences. He will act as a bridge between product and sales teams at Optable. Brad Jeffrey, Optable’s VP, North America Sales was previously Managing Director, Canada at Index Exchange. His deep knowledge of ad tech and his passion for strategic partnerships and innovative solutions will strengthen Optable’s growing commercial team in North America.
Reprise, one of the UK’s largest performance agencies, has today announced that it has appointed Martin Beauchamp as the agency’s first Chief Product Officer. Beauchamp will lead the development of Reprise’s products and solutions, building on its market-leading offering to ensure it continues to address emerging client needs. Formerly Head of Data Strategy and Ad Tech at Wavemaker, Beauchamp brings a breadth of specialist skills across product and technology, alongside extensive experience in digital media and data services. In this newly created role, Beauchamp will be responsible for driving the agency’s new product strategy and expanding Reprise’s proposition into new areas. Beauchamp will oversee the deepening of relationships with Reprise’s key partners and explore new opportunities to strengthen the company’s offering across their Experience, Media and Content crafts. He will also lead the agency’s product integration and partnership with other Mediabrands and IPG agencies, to further advance its proposition to optimise clients’ customer journeys now and for the future.
Barracuda Networks, Inc., a trusted partner and provider of cloud-first security solutions, has announced Joe Billante as its new Chief Financial Officer. Billante brings more than 20 years of executive leadership and finance experience to Barracuda, and has successfully led companies through business transformations, international expansion, and accelerated growth. Billante joins Barracuda most recently from eBay where he spent the last 13 years in several business, finance, and analytics executive leadership roles. Before eBay, he spent 11 years at General Electric in a number of finance roles including CFO for a $1B international division of GE Healthcare.
Nottingham and London-based digital marketing agency, Impression has ended 2022 with the appointments of two new senior hires to bolster both its paid media and people offering. The agency has announced the launch of a new Programmatic Advertising specialism alongside the additional appointment of a senior learning and development specialist to its people team. Harriet Howarth, previously Programmatic Lead at Dentsu-owned digital marketing agency, Merkle has been appointed to develop and grow the Programmatic Advertising specialism at Impression, Howarth will be responsible for shaping the agency’s programmatic positioning into the future. Ellen Melhuish also joins the agency in its People department as the first learning and development specialist and will devise and deliver learning and development initiatives across the company. The introduction of this role supports Impression’s long-term vision to be the best place where digital talent goes to transform their career. Melhuish has previous experience at Frontiers Media, The Prince’s Trust and Oxfam.
CloudBees, the software delivery platform for enterprises, has named a new chief revenue officer (CRO), Marc Gemassmer. Gemassmer will lead the company’s global go-to-market and customer success efforts, partner and channel group, as well as the professional services organization. Gemassmer joins CloudBees from his previous roles as CRO and later general manager at Vectra AI, a threat detection and response provider. Over his more than 20-year career, he has gained experience as a sales leader in enterprise software and cloud security at companies including Xactly, Cisco, Alteryx, SAP, Flexera, and PTC.
Love Ventures, the venture capital firm, has announced that it has appointed Carolyn Maddox as Senior Advisor and is welcoming Alex Packham as a Venture Partner. The appointments come as Love Ventures launches its third and largest fund to date with a close at the start of next year. Carolyn Maddox joins Love Ventures with 30 years of experience in the private equity industry. Maddox began her career at 3i Group, the leading UK private equity and venture capital listed company, followed by Causeway Capital and ABN Amro. She joined pioneering impact investor, Bridges Ventures, now Bridges Fund Management, as Executive Director and was pivotal in growing the company to four funds while she was there. Maddox subsequently joined Next Wave Partners as a Partner and COO and since 2020 she has been advising FSD Africa Investments on various projects including climate related investments in Africa. Maddox also chairs the Advisory Board of Leaders’ Quest, a global social enterprise working on purpose-led leadership development and climate change. Maddox will help to scale Love Ventures with its third fund and subsequent institutional funds. Alex Packham, the Founder and CEO of ContentCal, which was established in 2016 and sold to Adobe in December 2021, has been appointed as a Venture Partner. Whilst growing ContentCal, Packham raised significant angel and venture capital and scaled the business to over 3,500 customers and more than 60 team members. His scale up experience will ensure that Love Ventures can continue to support founders, find solutions to the challenges they face and ultimately navigate to their next phase of growth.
