Permutive, an audience platform purpose-built for publishers and marketers to re-establish trusted, privacy-safe relationships with consumers, has hired Mark Pearlstein as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Pearlstein joins Permutive’s North American team with a global remit to grow and scale the direct connection between publishers and advertisers as the era of third-party data comes to an end. The CRO is tasked with defining Permutive’s go-to-market and strengthening advertiser adoption for Permutive’s Audience Platform, which has driven 20x growth in privacy-first, targeted ads in the last two years. Prior to joining Permutive, Pearlstein held the position of CRO at SilverBullet and spent ten years as CRO at DoubleVerify, leading the company through to IPO. The hire follows the announcement that Permutive has secured $75M in Series C led by SoftBank, which the company is using to grow its patented on-device technology and scale its Audience Platform to create a global privacy-first infrastructure for digital advertising. Pearlstein’s experience on the buy- and sell-side is invaluable to this mission as advertisers look for sustainable end-to-end solutions that protect privacy and long-term value.
M&C Saatchi London has announced the promotion of Business Director, Christian Davis, to a newly created Managing Partner position, as part of the agency’s ongoing growth and reinvention. Davis will now join M&C Saatchi’s management team, reporting to CEO, Camilla Kemp. Working alongside two existing Managing Partners, Annabel Mackie and Chris Jones, he will help the agency achieve its vision and ambition to create change for clients, their customers and society, as well as actively contributing towards shaping and implementing its future strategy and capabilities. In addition to overseeing major client accounts and leading new business pitches, Davis will be instrumental in leading M&C Saatchi’s connected group strategy, building blended teams of specialists in order to drive growth across the group. Joining M&C Saatchi as an Account Director in 2015, Davis has played a key role in many of the agency’s most significant client campaigns. He has had a particular focus on work driving positive change and social impact, from helping people to get back to work following furlough with the Department for Work and Pensions, to overhauling the perception of apprenticeships with the Department for Education. Most recently he has overseen the development of the Department for Education’s new Young People’s Futures campaign, which aims to empower young people aged 14-to-19 to make more informed decisions about their future options. He began his agency career in 2007 and has previously held account handling positions at TBWA, Billington Cartmell and HeyHuman, amongst others.
Social media agency, Born Social, has hired Dan Pereira as the agency’s new and first ‘Data & Insight Director’. Pereira joins from global data science consultancy, Ekimetrics, where he helped manage a team of consultants delivering marketing effectiveness and analytics projects, focusing on retail, financial services and CPG. During his time there, he owned the company’s Measurement Partnership with Meta (formerly known as Facebook), coordinating with the Marketing Sciences team to up-skill the consultancy and deliver bespoke research. Prior to this, he was a Senior Data Analyst at Havas working with major brands.
Global communications network Tribe Global has appointed Nicole Penn, President of The EGC Group, and David Payne, CEO of Mediabridge, to its Board of Directors. Nicole Penn is based in New York and will provide increased board coverage in the America’s, helping to build the future of Tribe Global. A creative marketing and digital strategy veteran, Penn and her team at EGC have led the strategic marketing direction for companies that include Canon USA, Brother International, Thompson Reuters, Mayo Clinic, among others. Currently based in London, David Payne has worked in the media industry for more than two decades, predominantly concentrated in the Out of Home sector. As an experienced leader, Payne joins the Board to support ongoing work to make Tribe Global the Number 1 independent agency network.
IP protection and cybersecurity company, White Bullet, has announced the appointment of a number of new members of staff to its rapidly growing team tackling advertising-funded digital piracy. Eleonora Guerra-Gallegos joins as Anti-Piracy and Brand Safety Director to manage and build relationships with new and existing clients. Guerra-Gallegos has a wealth of experience in anti-piracy and brand safety enforcement having worked previously at OpSec and Entura International, protecting film and TV content worldwide. Guerra-Gallegos will head the team focusing on demonetisation of piracy, ‘follow the money’ enforcement and supporting brand safety programmes with advertisers. White Bullet also welcomes Koo Moore as Anti-Piracy and Brand Safety Manager. Moore has a Master of Laws degree in Intellectual Property and will support all enforcement and litigation and analytics programmes focused on demonetising piracy. Prior to joining White Bullet’s growing team, Moore worked at legal services firm CSC, leading enforcement and analytics services for multiple anti-piracy and brand safety clients. Ed Birch joins as Senior Anti-Piracy Intelligence Analyst, undertaking proactive and reactive investigation into ad-funded piracy and the infrastructure supporting it, assisting rights owners and advertising clients. An experienced Intelligence Analyst, Birch previously worked as Lead Intelligence Analyst for Content Protection for IFPI, the trade organisation representing and working to protect the recording industry worldwide, as well as senior intelligence roles at Surrey Police, RAF Police and Intelligence.
Digital content agency and media network Little Dot Studios (an All3Media company) has appointed Sarah McKelvey and Emma Gronow to Head of Agency Sales, UK and Head of Agency Sales, ANZ respectively, following a period of accelerated growth. McKelvey joined Little Dot Studios in the UK from Beano Studios in early 2020. Prior to this, she was at Primesight which followed on from a four-year stint at ITV. Gronow started at Little Dot Studios in Australia mid 2021 after a decade working both agency and publisher side in multiple territories, most recently at IDG (International Data Group). Prior to this she held various positions at Playground XYZ, Yahoo!, Social Soup, Zenith and The M Group.
Growth marketing agency Space & Time has appointed Alex Moran as SEO lead, where he will be responsible for leading and growing the agency’s SEO department. Moran brings a wealth of industry knowledge and experience to his new role at Space & Time, including a specialism in local SEO. He joins the independent agency from Wavemaker, where he held the position of technical account director. In a previous role, as technical SEO manager at iProspect, he was responsible for launching the agency’s local SEO product.
Ogury has announced the appointment of Ossie Bayram as UK Country Director. In his role, Bayram aims to increase Ogury’s position as the go-to mobile ad partner for all agencies and brands, as well as strengthening relations with local publishers. Bayram has more than a decade of senior-level experience in the publishing and advertising industry. He has worked with some of the biggest news and magazine brands, including News UK’s The Times and The Sun, and Minute Media’s 90 Min, as well as fast-growth startups. Prior to joining Ogury, Bayram worked for Schibsted, the owner of leading newspapers in Norway. Here, he took the mantle of Head of Advertising at Shpock, followed by UK Country Manager at PriceSpy. During his time at the latter, Bayram successfully revamped the UK office to drive more revenue and positive brand awareness.
Page & Page and Partners, the independent global creative communications agency specialising in health, wellness, and lifestyle has appointed Sophie Rutherford as an Account Director as the agency continues its exceptional growth. Rutherford joins from PRMA Consulting where she spent 11 years building a unique network of influential payer and KOL advisors to support all aspects of primary research. She spent her early career as a film and TV producer, working with small advertising agencies, branding consultancies, and broadcasters including BBC and ITV and as Commissioning Editor at the Discovery Channel. She brings depth and breadth of experience in strategy, insight and data, combined with the creativity of TV production, making her ideally suited to contribute to the scientific storytelling expertise of Page & Page and Partners. She reports into Senior Account Director Asma Shirazi, part of the client services team, and will be generating new ideas for client campaigns as well as managing accounts.
Medius, a provider of AP Automation and wider spend management solutions, has announced the appointment of Matt Rhodus as VP of Business Development & Strategic Initiatives. Rhodus joins from Oracle NetSuite, where he spent eight years in senior leadership, business development and strategy, and solution sales, rising to Senior Director of Go-To-Market & Strategic Initiatives in March 2019. Prior to that, he led Brand Solutions at IBM for Smarter Commerce & Industry Solutions. His expertise includes business development, sales, and marketing, specializing in SaaS and enterprise software.
Paul Cowper is re-joining Kantar, the UK’s largest evidence-based insights company, as a Senior Partner in the business’ Consulting practice. He arrives well versed in Kantar’s clients and markets having spent over ten years with the business before moving to Flamingo as Managing Partner in 2019. Cowper is returning to lend his extensive experience as the team supports clients through post-Covid recovery and growth planning. Cowper is a highly experienced and trusted advisor to brands in the food, alcohol and technology sectors. Over the course of a 25-year career, he has married his brand planning experience with a thorough understanding of consumer habits and how people think, feel and make choices to provide commercial guidance to clients.
MRS has announced that its next President will be Saj Arshad, Chief Customer & Marketing Officer at Santander UK. Arshad will take up the position at the beginning of April, following the end of Jan Gooding’s five-year term. With extensive experience in a broad range of sectors including healthcare, technology, retail and financial services, and fashion, Arshad has been using data insights to drive customer, marketing and digital transformation for over 30 years. In August 2020, Arshad joined Santander UK where he is responsible for customer insight, experience, and engagement, as well as marketing, brand and sponsorship. Before joining Santander UK, Arshad worked on the boards of organisations including Bupa UK, Alshaya Group and Vodafone, where he led the total overhaul of retail stores and digital channels, as well as the implementation of a global customer relationship management (CRM) capability. With a commitment to the constant development of the marketing industry, its professionals and its impact on society, Arshad has previously held voluntary positions as board member and fellow of The Marketing Society and as a mentor for younger marketers with The Marketing Academy.
Benchling, pioneer of the R&D Cloud powering the biotechnology industry, has announced that Paul Robson, a cloud veteran with more than 25 years of experience scaling high-performing field organisations — including a decade at Adobe, has joined Benchling as President of Field Operations. The company also added Elena Donio, the former CEO of Axiom and President of Concur, to its board, as a director and compensation committee chair. Robson was previously President of International at Adobe, where he led Adobe’s global business across 160 countries outside of North America. He joined Adobe in 2011 and played a key role in their transformation from packaged desktop software to a cloud subscription model. Robson drove strategic planning, international operations, sales, and growth in developed and emerging markets spanning Europe and Asia. At Benchling, he will manage global sales, partnerships, and customer success to support the company’s ambitious growth plans. Elena Donio also brings over 25 years of experience both as an operating executive and board member, building and scaling leading enterprise software companies. Donio also currently serves on the boards of Twilio, Databricks, and Contentful. She previously served as the CEO of Axiom, the talent marketplace transforming the legal industry. Before joining Axiom, Donio spent nearly two decades at Concur, including as President, through its ultimate $8B acquisition by SAP.
Amplify, the creative agency specialising in experience and culture, is continuing its expansion with key hires across creative and production. Brixton Finishing School 2020 graduates, Leila Nithila-George and Obinna Udekwereze, join Amplify after a stint as creatives at Adam & Eve. They have already scooped a prestigious D&AD New Blood 2021 award for their ‘Hot and Unbothered’ campaign and Nithila-George has additionally been recognised as a Campaign Woman to Watch. Nithila-George and Udekwereze, who will be working as solos, are joined by fellow creative, Lisa Aoyama, who recently graduated from the Royal College of Art with a degree in Innovation Design Engineering. Equal parts maker and designer, Aoyama’s experience in creating perception-challenging exhibitions that bridge design and technology is set to further diversify Amplify’s creative toolbox. The agency’s expanding creative team will be further complemented by Montell Hemmings who joins as project co-ordinator from the National Theatre, plus three graduates from Brixton Finishing School’s class of 2021: Yusuf Ntahilaja, Ella Bird and Perri Wickham have joined as part of Amplify’s Project New Wave scheme for entry-level talent.
Management consultancy Hanya Partners has announced the appointment of Ali Law as managing partner for a new service line in IT & Digital Transformation Services. Building on Hanya’s existing work, Law and his team will deliver a range of services from IT strategy and digital agility through to managed services. Law, who has been an associate with the Edinburgh-based firm since 2021, has more than 30 years’ experience across IT and business transformation. He previously held a number of roles with Royal London Insurance including Group Head of Digital Transformation and Chief Information Officer (Life & Pensions). He is also a former Head of Group Technology with HBOS and Managing Director with Vision Consulting.
Digital agency Organic has announced the appointment of Tom Hedley as Lead Engineer. Reporting to Joe Webber, Director of Engineering at Organic, Hedley is joining the team full-time after freelancing for the agency for three months. The new hire comes as a result of Organic’s efforts to expand its capabilities and offering as they continue to grow the team. Hedley will be responsible for leading on project work and overseeing and giving direction to other engineers within the software engineering team. He will be in charge of assuring quality and punctual delivery for all clients (including W Series, Distell and Arol), offering technical consultancy on tech stacks/platforms, architecting solutions using appropriate technology and peer-reviewing code and providing feedback. Prior to joining Organic, Hedley spent nearly a decade working as a freelance Front-End Developer. During this time, he provided contract services for a variety of agencies, studios and personal clients in the UK, EU and USA. Notable accounts he worked on included internal and public-facing projects for the NHS, UEA and London Borough Councils.
CRM specialist Armadillo has appointed Joanna Penn as its new Managing Director (MD). The appointment demonstrates an investment by the agency in its senior leadership by creating the new MD role to lead the operational management of the agency. Penn joined Armadillo two years ago from a successful career working on global brands such as Nike, Unilever, and Pernod Ricard to become Client Partner on the McDonald’s account. In that time, she has excelled at building and nurturing a high-performing, motivated and happy team and leading them to focus on delivering the best work for its clients. In her new role, she’ll be applying these skills across the business and continuing to deliver against Armadillo’s proposition of delivering unrivalled ROI for existing and new clients. As well as celebrating the addition of Managing Director, the team also welcomes new Client Partner, Emma Watson. Watson joins from her previous role as Business Director at Edit where she ran their flagship account with Jaguar Land Rover, delivering commercial success and multiple award wins (including two Golds at this year’s DMAs). Watson brings a pedigree in data and CRM to add to the team, with deep experience working strategically with data and MarTech to deliver compelling campaigns and customer experiences with proven results.
Bloomberg News has announced the appointment of Victoria Wakely as its first U.K. National Editor. She joins the global news organisation after spending more than two decades at the BBC where she held major editorial roles across its flagship programmes. In this newly created role, Wakely will direct coverage of the U.K. across all beats, setting the agenda in Bloomberg’s biggest European market. She will be responsible for expanding Bloomberg’s reach across all platforms, and developing news products that engage new audiences. Under her leadership, Bloomberg will grow its team of U.K.-focused reporters and editors. Since May 2021, Wakely has served as Senior Adviser to Editorial and Charter Review in the BBC Director-General’s office, a role in which she managed the Serota Review of BBC editorial processes, governance, and culture. Prior to that, she was Editor of BBC Radio 4’s ”World at One” and “World This Weekend” from 2018-2021, where she led a large team of journalists. Wakely spent a total of ten years over her career working on Radio 4’s “Today” programme, including as Acting Editor (2016-2017) during the 2017 election campaign. Other positions she has held at the BBC include Senior Policy Adviser to BBC News (2017-2018), Senior Editorial Adviser to the BBC Trust, (2012-2013) and Editor of Radio 4’s “Any Questions” and “Start the Week” (2002-2012).
Outreach, the sales execution platform provider, has announced Prasad Raje has joined the company as Outreach’s first Chief Product Officer. Raje is a seasoned product veteran with more than 25 years of experience building and scaling enterprise software businesses. Raje comes to Outreach with immense experience in product development and implementation for companies ranging from category disrupting startups to global industry leaders. Throughout his career, Raje has founded three software companies, including a SaaS product company acquired by Oracle. Post-acquisition, he served as a senior product leader at Oracle and holds nine patents for his technical work. Raje was most recently Senior Vice President of Product Management at RingCentral, responsible for its flagship UCaaS offering.
Journey Further has appointed Thierry Ngutegure as Head of Insight. Ngutegure departs his role as Head of Data Insights at Rise at Seven to join the performance marketing agency at its Leeds HQ. Ngutegure’s brief is to grow Journey Further’s data function into a market-leading insights offering, which will integrate across the agency’s brand, creative and digital channel teams. Ngutegure will work closely with recently appointed Chief Strategy Officer, James Addlestone, and Executive Creative Director, Ben Ducker.
Multi-award-winning Manchester agency Bring Digital has added 8 new recruits to the business following record growth for the business in 2021. The hires come after a year that saw revenues surpass the £4m mark for the first time. 2021 also saw the agency’s move to a new central Manchester office space after almost doubling their headcount to over 40 digital experts. The 8 new hires joined across Bring Digital’s SEO, Affiliates and PPC teams. The recruits will strengthen the market-leading eCommerce proposition for brands such as American Golf, Cotton Traders and Studio. This growth has continued into 2022, with the agency currently hiring for 5 further roles in Q1.
Infobip, the global communications provider, has announced Bobby White as its new Head of Marketing for Europe. White will lead a highly-skilled marketing team to deliver integrated campaigns, drive customer advocacy and take Infobip’s brand profile to the next level across the region. Prior to joining Infobip, White worked for Ricoh as Marketing Development Manager, leading the marketing strategy for a range of IT solutions. He also spent five years at Jaguar Land Rover, where, in his final position in Product Marketing, he was responsible for product definition and positioning, market research, global pricing, launch planning and building a sustainable revenue equation.
Akeneo has announced several key executive appointments to support its rapid expansion in the global marketplace. The executive appointments include Johan Benoualid as General Manager for EMEA and APAC; Lisa Manske as Vice President of Business Operations; Antoine Barbier as Vice President of Product and industry veteran, Dagbert Sansen, as General Manager for the Americas. Collectively, the new appointees bring decades of industry expertise, and position Akeneo to bring its game-changing PXM offer to new markets in 2022.
Techstars, a global investment business that provides access to capital, one-on-one mentorship, and customised programming for early-stage entrepreneurs, has announced the appointment of Saalim Chowdhury as Managing Director of Techstars London. He follows predecessor Eamonn Carey. Formerly a Partner at 500 Startups, Chowdhury will lead the growth of the startup accelerator in London, as it expands to two programmes a year, in April and September. Techstars London will open to startups across new sectors, welcoming more b2b startups in healthtech, fintech and web3, and using technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.
