Interviews, insight & analysis on digital media & marketing

Talent Tracker: Mediacom UK, Journey Further, Bazaarvoice, Inc and more

MediaCom UK has announced the appointment of Adrian Walcott, its first external board advisor and one of the most sought-after industry voices in helping to decode culture, inclusion and business transformation. Walcott brings a wealth of experience to the role having worked in the media, marketing and advertising industry for some of the UK’s most recognisable companies for over 25 years. Starting his career in advertising at Ogilvy, he has since held senior positions at Barclays Bank, where he was responsible for brand internalisation, before leading on brand product and social media marketing at Eurostar. What’s more, he is the co-founder of Noturningback2020.com – a social enterprise that focuses on encouraging more people from diverse ethnic backgrounds into the marketing, media and communications sector – and he launched Brands With Values that specialises in building culture, inspiring inclusion and driving transformation for some of the UK’s leading businesses.

Performance marketing agency, Journey Further, has appointed Lauren McFarland, Katheryn Watson and Amy Jones to join its influencer marketing, digital PR and creative teams respectively. Katheryn Watson from Jellyfish will be joining Journey Further’s London office as Head of PR. Watson will build the southern PR team and work closely with PR Director, Beth Nunnington, to lead key accounts and drive new business activity. Lauren McFarland leaves her role as Senior Client Partner at Influencer to join Journey Further as Influencer Marketing Director. McFarland will be leveraging her experience working with the likes of PepsiCo and Mars to develop the agency’s influencer marketing proposition for its growing customer base. Amy Jones departs her role as Campaign Lead at Rise at Seven to join Journey Further as Senior Art Director in the agency’s through the line creative team. Jones will help drive the agency’s data-driven creative approach, managing an art and copy team from the Leeds HQ.

Bazaarvoice, Inc., has announced that it has named Zarina Lam Stanford as Chief Marketing Officer. An established leader with global SaaS experience spanning North America, Asia Pacific & Japan, Europe, and other growth markets, Stanford brings over 20 years of experience in leading with a customer-centric, insights-driven, and outcome-based approach to marketing and business growth at numerous SaaS companies. Prior to joining Bazaarvoice, Stanford was Chief Communication and Marketing Officer of Rackspace Technology and held senior sales and marketing executive positions at publicly held companies such as IBM and SAP, and private equity firm Syniti. Stanford assumed her role as CMO in November 2021 and will largely be based out of Bazaarvoice’s global head office in Austin, Texas.

Vibrant Media and Quintesse have announced the appointment of Beau Bunch as U.S. west coast sales director for both entities. Bunch has worked in attention-based media sales for nearly a decade. He has held relevant positions at publishers and advertising companies including Parsec Media, Maven, Say Media and Bloomspot.com. Based in Los Angeles, Bunch will spearhead new relationships with agencies and brands across the west coast.

Altrincham digital marketing agency First Internet has made a raft of new hires as it expands. Kieran Wilson has been recruited as a technical SEO specialist, Jon Cole-Dalton as a content marketeer and SEO specialist. Harriet Waters has come on board as a digital marketing executive, Jonathan Griffiths as a UX designer, and Ben William-Harrison has joined as account manager and social media executive.

N-able, Inc. has announced the addition of Ann Johnson as a member of the board of directors, in addition to the establishment of a cybersecurity committee of the board. These key developments further accelerate N-able’s focus on empowering partner protection and success. Johnson serves as the corporate vice president of security, compliance, identity, and management business development for Microsoft®. Driving the evolution and implementation of Microsoft’s short and long-term security acquisitions and strategic partner roadmap, she has become a recognized thought leader on cybersecurity and a sought-after global speaker and digital author specializing in cyber-resilience, online fraud, compliance, and machine learning. In addition to the N-able board of directors, she is a member of the board of advisors for The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), an advisory board member for the Executive Women’s Forum on Information Security, Risk Management & Privacy (EWF), and a board member at HUMAN (formerly WhiteOps), as well as Seattle Humane.

Havas Media Group has announced the appointment of Kim Peatling to the newly created role of Head of Growth and Marketing. Peatling joins Havas Media Group from Dentsu X, where she spent just under three years as Managing Partner, Business Development and Marketing. In her new role, Peatling will develop and lead Havas Media Group’s UK and Ireland growth strategy, from prospecting and conversion of new clients through to creating organic growth strategies across its existing client base. With a track record of partnering with executive boards to drive transformation, Peatling has previously held new business and marketing roles at agencies including Fetch, Publicis Media, Starcom, Mediavest and AdConnection (which was later acquired by VCCP).

Tanium has announced the appointment of Steve Daheb to the position of Chief Marketing Officer. Daheb is a marketing veteran in the IT industry with a long history of successfully driving business growth through corporate strategy, go-to-market execution, brand reimagining and demand creation for start-up, mid-late stage private and public companies. Most recently, Daheb served as the CMO for California-based ON24, where he helped lead the company through its IPO in February 2021. Daheb also held the CMO title at other high-profile technology companies such as Citrix and Blue Coat Systems. Prior to ON24, he served for over five years as the Senior Vice President (SVP) of Oracle Cloud Go-To-Market, where he was responsible for driving the global growth of Oracle Cloud, including Oracle Cloud Platform services and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services.

Upstream has appointed George Kalyvas as its new Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). Kalyvas, currently Chief Operating Officer and a 12-year veteran at the company, takes on an extended role to ensure seamless to market leadership and execution. Kalyvas has been instrumental in driving Upstream’s success during his 12-year tenure at the firm. Since 2019 he has led operations across commercial, technical and performance marketing functions globally as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to this role, he served as Senior Vice President and oversaw commercial and technical operations, first in Africa, and later on a global basis. Kalyvas previously served at Siemens, before joining Upstream in 2009.

Agilisys has announced the appointment of Claire Darbyshire as Head of the Social Care and Health Technology Practice. With over 23 years of public sector experience, Darbyshire’s appointment will support Agilisys’ growth ambitions within social care and health, reflecting the crucial role technology now plays in supporting the public sector. Darbyshire’s varied background in health provider, commissioner, and regulatory roles provides a rich strategic and operational change experience portfolio. Coming from diverse and complex environments, including health and social care, population health, wellbeing, and community safety, Darbyshire will bridge the gap between emerging global technological development and the public sector’s challenges.