Quantcast, a global advertising technology company, has announced Deb Stambaugh as its chief marketing officer. Stambaugh brings to Quantcast more than two decades of B2B technology marketing experience with a proven track record for driving brand awareness and customer demand while leading global teams at world-class organisations. She joins Quantcast from Samsung Ads, where during a time of tremendous growth, she led marketing for the Americas, inclusive of integrated go-to-market strategy, brand positioning, demand-gen, public relations and media. Prior to Samsung Ads, she held leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies including IBM and SAP, as well as at startups.
Aircall, the cloud-based business phone, has announced the appointment of John Kinzer, experienced SaaS operator and CFO, to the company’s Board of Directors. Kinzer brings more than three decades of experience in finance, mostly with SaaS companies. He currently works as an Operating Partner at Stripes and previously as Chief Financial Officer at HubSpot and Blackboard. He is an active board member for software companies Outsystems and OneStream, and holds the role of Chairman of the Apex Center for Entrepreneurs at Virginia Tech.
Reuters has announced the appointment of Arif Durrani as Director of the Reuters Plus custom content studio, leading the content and creative strategy for Reuters Plus globally. Durrani brings more than two decades of publishing, editorial and broadcast experience, having worked across business, technology and luxury sectors, as well as on large-scale projects for governments and multinationals. Durrani most recently served as senior editor at New York Times’ T Brand Studio. Prior to the New York Times, Durrani ran Bloomberg Media’s commercial editorial operations across Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The League, a European industry network offering global insight, strategy and creative solutions to family brands, has announced the appointment of Davide Galante as International Business Development Director. Prior to setting up his own business, World Funk Picture, where he provided clients such as UEFA, DHL and Volkswagen with a roadmap to grow their business via data, analytics, AI, content, martech and adtech, Galante was a Director at RCS Mediagroup, an international multimedia publishing group based in Italy.
WP Engine, the WordPress technology company, has announced the appointment of Sachin Puri as Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. Puri takes on the role following a two-decades-long career leading marketing and sales teams across industry-defining technology companies including McAfee, eBay, and HP. As CMO, Puri will be responsible for WP Engine’s global marketing strategy, execution, and performance, including brand, content, and digital marketing as the company launches new products and initiatives to serve large brands, agencies, developers, and small and medium-size businesses (SMBs). Prior to joining WP Engine, Puri was Vice President of Marketing at McAfee, where he led full-funnel marketing including eCommerce experience, lifecycle management, conversion optimization, data science, and performance marketing across paid, owned, and earned channels.
Rebekah Brooks, co-founder and managing partner of Hubble has been promoted to Managing Director to ignite Hubble’s next phase of growth. Hubble, part of What’s Possible Group, is a unique advertising solution modelled on its target client: a marketing team that operates across multiple countries from a central ‘hub’ office. Brooks promotion comes after organic and new business growth. She will be recruiting a Managing Partner to join the team, as she concentrates on finding more hub-based brands around the world.
Natalie Vander Vorst is joining Kantar, the UK’s largest evidence-based insights company, to lead its 150-person strong Consulting practice which advises brands on commercial and marketing strategies to enable growth. In her new role, Vander Vorst will continue the practice’s ongoing success across demand generation, brand and creative positioning, sustainability, retail optimisation and organisational performance. Vander Vorst brings a wealth of experience supporting large global brands. For the past eight years, she worked at Publicis Groupe where she advised businesses on marketing and digital transformation, brand building, and opportunities to expand share and revenue in challenging markets. She led PG One, a dedicated agency for Publicis Groupe’s largest client Procter & Gamble which developed new ways to analyse consumer behaviour to help improve business performance. Vander Vorst also has client-side experience working with major retailers, using shopper insights to increase category sales. Before Publicis Groupe, she worked in WPP agencies for 10 years.
Imagination, the Global Experience Design Company, has announced the promotion of Nick Blenkarne to Head of Strategy UK. In his new role, Blenkarne will focus on further growing the practice, with Imagination’s consultancy offer and experience-led marketing campaigns at the heart of the service. Blenkarne has been at the forefront of some of Imagination’s most innovative and culturally engaged work over the past seven years, during which he has led accounts including LG, Major League Baseball and Samsung.
Reprise, the performance marketing network, has announced two new appointments to its UK&I Strategy Team to spearhead customer-centric strategies for the company’s growing client portfolio. Claire Elsworth has been promoted to Group Strategy Partner & Flow for Good Lead, with Ed Hockey joining as Group Strategy Partner. Based in Reprise’s Old Bailey offices, they will both work closely with the wider team in London, Leeds and Peterborough to enhance the performance of experience, media and content. Having worked for Mediabrands for over 10 years at UM, Initiative and Reprise, Claire Elsworth brings a wealth of digital experience to the team spanning media strategy, creative content and digital planning. In her new role, she will be pivotal in Reprise’s new business and client strategy work, as well as focusing on talent development for the strategy team. In addition, Elsworth will be responsible for driving the agency’s ‘Flow for Good’ agenda, its workstream focused on inclusivity, representation and making Reprise a force for good in the world. Further strengthening Reprise’s growing team is Ed Hockey, who joins the team from Unilever where he worked in a number of digital roles, most recently as Senior Media Manager. He brings an outstanding track record in search and performance media, as well as extensive experience in working with clients from his background working at agencies such as Resolution Media and Total Media.
Money20/20, the world’s leading global events brand where fintech communities come together to do business and shape the future of the industry, has appointed former M&C Saatchi and Omnicom marketing and growth leader, Geraint Jones, as Global VP Marketing. Jones is responsible for the vision, leadership, strategic direction and performance of Money20/20’s marketing. He will report into Money20/20’s Chief Strategy & Growth Officer, Scarlett Sieber, and joins a growing marketing function recently boosted by the arrival of hugely experienced and well-known event marketer, Kathryn Frankson as Director of Marketing. Jones has spent nearly two decades in brand consulting, data consulting and advertising. He has held a number of senior marketing roles on the agency side, advising clients across a variety of sectors, but with a particular focus on financial services, B2B and technology brands. Prior to working in brand and advertising, he began his career in management consulting with PRTM (now part of PwC), before spending half a decade in the customer data and payments space with 5one (now part of Mastercard).
With major retail partner wins in France, UK, Germany and Spain in 2022, CitrusAd has consolidated its position in retail media solutions by announcing the appointment of Alban Villani as its first Regional CEO – Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Prior to his role as Senior Vice-President at Appier, Villani founded his own digital marketing and brand consultancy, and served as Regional MD for South Asia and Pacific at Criteo, where the region enjoyed significant growth under his leadership.
VaynerMedia has announced management changes across the EMEA region. Daisy Domenghini will be promoted to Managing Director for EMEA, having served as Head of Client Partnership since October 2021. VJ Anand, who currently serves as Head of Creative for VaynerMedia APAC, will relocate to London to become Executive Creative Director of EMEA. Both will be based in VaynerMedia’s London office. Domenghini has been at VaynerMedia since October 2021 and in that time has overseen client accounts including Heinz, NatWest, and UNICEF. In her previous role as Head of Client Partnerships, she led the addition of Durex, Zalando and Indeed as clients. Prior to joining VaynerMedia, Domenghini was Global Client MD at The Engine Group. Anand manages creative teams across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, Japan, Indonesia and India, leading projects for PepsiCo and Prudential. During his tenure, VaynerMedia APAC has collected a range of awards including Independent Agency of the Year by Marketing Interactive (Gold), Campaign Asia Independent Agency of the Year 2021 (Silver), and Campaign Asia Social Media Agency of the Year 2021 (Bronze).
Demonstrating its commitment towards harnessing the power of digital technology to deliver better outcomes for society, Netcompany, the international IT services business has appointed Kirstie van Oerle as a Partner responsible for driving advanced technology initiatives in the UK private sector. With over twenty years’ experience across a variety of sectors including travel and transport, telecoms, manufacturing, and energy and utilities, van Oerle joins Netcompany from Halma, where she was EMEA Business Unit Director SPS responsible for P&L, business development and transformational change. She has previously held several other senior leadership positions in companies including Capita, Siemens, CGI and Arqiva. In a voluntary role as Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Lead at Farnborough Sixth Form College, van Oerle is a prominent supporter of equality and accessibility, and she advocates strongly for creating inclusive work environments for the betterment of individuals and business performance.
ID-Pal, a global identity verification provider, has announced the appointment of Sinead McDonald, the company’s Data Protection Officer (DPO), to the Board of Directors. McDonald will play a critical part in ensuring the ISO 27001 certified solution sustains its reputation for providing businesses with a simple, secure and compliant way to verify the identity and address of customers in any jurisdiction or language. McDonald joined ID-Pal in 2017 bringing with her over 20 years of experience in data protection and regulatory compliance. McDonald’s resume includes 17 years at J.P. Morgan, as well as several years serving as Head of Compliance & Regulatory Affairs at Information Security Assurance Services (ISAS), and as Director of Data Protection at Waystone.
STL has announced the addition of Ashwini Bakshi as Chief Sales Officer to its global leadership team. In his new role, Bakshi will be a part of the Executive Committee of the company and will be responsible for driving the company’s order book and revenues across portfolios, customer segments and geographies. Prior to joining STL, AsBakshihwini was the Managing Director, Head of Region Europe & Africa at Project Management Institute (PMI). He has more than 25 years of global experience working with the likes of Nokia, Ericsson and Kathrein Mobile.
