Skillshare has announced the appointment of Natacha Cullinan as UK Market Director as it spearheads UK growth. Prior to joining Skillshare, Cullinan was at FutureLearn, a UK based edtech marketplace owned by the Open University and SEEK group. Across her tenure, she led the acquisition and brand partnerships strategy, driving exponential growth in both user acquisition and consumer revenues on a global scale. She also spent two years running the content and digital marketing division for global education management company QS’s flagship consumer portals, TopUniversities.com and TopMBA.com, delivering record growth year on year. Her remit at Skillshare is focused on driving international expansion across the UK and the EU, driving customer demand, building up the teaching community and strengthening the Skillshare brand across new territories.
VaynerMedia London has today announced the appointments of Daisy Domenghini as their new Head of Client Partnership and Alannah Wesley as Client Partnership Director. They will both report into VaynerMedia London Managing Director Sarah Baumann and assume their roles with immediate effect. Domenghini was most recently at The Engine Group, where she was known for driving long-standing, global client relationships and continuing to push for innovative partnerships and solutions. Wesley joins the agency from The Department having spent the last five years of her career leading the new business and client services team for the organisation.
Snap has hired Anne Laurenson as the first Managing Director of Global Carrier Partnerships. Laurenson joins from Google and – in a company first – will be the first Snap executive to lead a Global team, including the Americas, from outside the US. Laurenson will be based in Paris, France. Prior to joining Snap, Ms Laurenson spent 14 years at Google, ten of those driving Android growth. She most recently served as the Managing Director for Android Partnerships for EMEA. In this role, she was responsible for the overall strategy and execution of growing the adoption of Android ecosystem and Google services through partnerships with carriers, smartphone manufacturers and retailers in the region.
Ogilvy Paris is pleased to announce that Jonathan Baudet-Botella has joined its creative talent roster as Art Director. Baudet-Botella started his career in web design before joining BETC where he has just spent eight great years prior to landing at Ogilvy Paris. His love for visual arts and design details has assisted him well in concepting and crafting a wide range of films, activation campaigns & digital experiences for major French and international brands such as: Air France, Citroën, Sephora, Louis Vuitton, Audemars Piguet, Bouygues Telecom, Canal+ and Schweppes. He is the Art Director behind such industry-leading, multi-platform campaigns as: Lacoste Save Our Species and Crocodile Free— which was awarded 12 Lions (Gold in Design & Brand Experience, Silver in PR and Brand Experience & 8 Bronze), 5 Gold at Clios, 8 D&AD Pencils and the Green Pencil at The One Show (only 1 recipient per year receives this prestigious award), Shark, Lovie, LIA…; campaigns Cinema to Go for Air France; The Ad Filter for the D&AD; and, just recently, Bouygues Telecom Keep on fallin’.
Onfido has announced the appointment of Sue Barsamian as Director and Bill Losch as Audit Chair to its board of directors. Barsamian and Losch bring over 30 years of experience to the company’s executive team, with expertise in fast-growth technology companies pioneering identity and security solutions. A highly accomplished business executive, Barsamian has overseen rapid growth for a range of technology companies, including at the helm of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise’s 2000-person software sales and marketing team. She currently sits on the boards of three public companies: Five9, Box and NortonLifeLock. Barsamian’s track record of building and mentoring teams extends to former board roles at security company Symantec, data company Segment, and identity management platform, Auth0. Bill Losch is an industry veteran who has spent almost a decade as Chief Financial Officer of Okta, an identity and access management company and Onfido partner. Losch’s previous experience at hyperscale technology companies Yahoo!, DreamWorks Animation and Druva, makes him the perfect fit for Onfido as it prepares to embark on the next phase of its growth.
Strategy and planning practice Strat House has appointed Victoria Herrick as Strategy Partner. Herrick joins from the Royal Yachting Association where she was Director of Strategy, and her appointment reunites her with Strat House co-founders Melanie Welsh and Rachel Clarke who all previously worked together at Havas. Prior to her six years as Strategy Director at Havas, Herrick held senior strategy roles in both the UK and US, including VP of Strategy and Planning, at Invensys. Strat House has also appointed BIMA 100 honouree Nick Buckley to the newly created role of operations manager. Buckley joins from digital agency Reason and will be responsible for effectively managing the day-to-day running of Strat House, acting as primary client contact and ensuring the smooth running of the business and culture.
Totalmobile, a Field Service Management Software (FSM) company, has introduced David Webb as Managing Director of Property and Facilities Management business. Webb brings to the role over 25 years of experience in asset-centric services in companies such as Cognito iQ, where he served as Chief Operating Officer responsible for strategic accounts such as JLL Property Group, Integral and Serco. Webb’s new role combines two of Totalmobile’s major sectors, facilities management and property services. His responsibilities will include establishing and developing this business unit and ensuring that the company’s customers in these sectors receive the highest standard of service.
London-based Consumer tech marketplace aisle 3 has announced the appointment of Isac Casapu as Head of Data Platform. Casapu is an experienced system and real-time engineer with more than 20 years of experience. Casapu will be responsible for building out the Data Engineering function that will scale across thousands of sites and billions of offers. Casapu has worked for a variety of businesses in Israel and the UK including urban digital solutions company, Blockdox, price comparison site Pricesearcher and high-frequency trading company, Veloquant.
Avanade, the digital innovator on the Microsoft ecosystem, has appointed Adam Kelly as Avanade Ireland Country Manager. Kelly will be responsible for driving transformational growth for Avanade in Ireland, building on its recent recognition as Microsoft’s Ireland Country Partner of the Year 2021. Kelly joins Avanade, an Accenture and Microsoft joint venture, after more than 20 years at Accenture, where he worked in both Ireland and the UK in Technology and Financial Services. Most recently, he led a large delivery team with a major financial services organisation. Before that, he led Accenture’s Diversification portfolio within Financial Services. Kelly is already very familiar with Avanade having worked alongside the organisation in his previous roles.
To continue to drive and accelerate Slack’s leadership in the region, the company has appointed Pip White, as it’s new SVP and GM of EMEA. Having previously held senior leadership positions at Salesforce, before joining Google Cloud as Managing Director for the UK&I, White is well placed to lead the charge in EMEA for Slack, as one of today’s fastest-growing SaaS companies which was acquired by Salesforce.
Digital content agency and media network Little Dot Studios has appointed Zara Gregory to the newly created role of Director of Operations. Gregory brings more than two decades of media industry experience to Little Dot Studios, joining the company from Sky where over the last five years as Group Head of Transformation she was responsible for delivering complex transformation programs and embedding cultural change across its Content Operations arm and Sky News division. Prior to Sky, Gregory was at the BBC where she held a number of key operational roles across TV and Production, including leading the transition of BBC3 from a linear to online proposition, working with senior creatives and business stakeholders from across BBC to re-invent it successfully as an on-demand brand.
Labster, has announced it has appointed Hope Frank as Chief Marketing Officer, as a key part of its continued mission to bring accessible and transformative STEM education to the world. With more than 20 years of experience, Hope Frank is a recognized leader who has led marketing for some of the fastest-growing Silicon Valley technology companies. Recently, she served as CMO and consulting producer for Brave Blue World, a documentary streaming on Netflix narrated by Liam Neeson, featuring Jaden Smith and Matt Damon. Earlier in her career, she launched ESPNHD technology, the Starbucks WiFi network and THX (3D Sound). Frank is a member of the executive board of directors for Influential, the largest influencer network and partner of IBM Watson, Oracle and TikTok. She is a founding member of the CMO Club and is on the advisory board of the CMO Council in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America.
Commvault has announced the appointment of Stuart Abbott as Area Vice President & General Manager of UK & Ireland. Abbott brings extensive experience in leading large enterprise sales organisations to his new role. Over the past five years, he has led both UK&I accounts at Dell Technologies and built the current Global Alliances business for EMEA at Dell Financial Services. Having previously worked in partnership with multinational organisations, including Capgemini and Atos, Abbott can contribute great insight into delivering solutions into the largest and most complex global enterprises and financial organisations in the world.
Ballou has announced that Pankaj Amin is joining the board of pan-European integrated communications agency Ballou as a Non-Executive Director to help the agency work on its growth strategy and consultancy executive training, bringing a valuable external perspective. Currently, Pankaj serves on the board of MUBIC, Enzo Bevande and Turnaround Management Association. Pankaj is also the founder and managing director at SC Ventures, which serves as an investor, manager, and board advisor to companies requiring transformation and growth strategies, using cultural and process insights to revitalize businesses and operations. Prior to SC Ventures, Pankaj worked at Model N, an enterprise software company funded by Accel-KKR that went public in March 2013. Pankaj began his career in equity research at Goldman Sachs and in the telecommunications and electronics strategy group at Booz-Allen & Hamilton.
Productsup has announced the appointment of Brad Copeland as Vice President of Sales, North America, and the promotion of Christian Reichert to Chief Sales Officer. They will be responsible for leading Productsup’s sales team and overseeing business development initiatives to accelerate sales growth. Copeland will report to Reichert and focus specifically on the US and Canada. Copeland has nearly 30 years of experience in technology sales and most recently served as Vice President Enterprise Sales at Phenom, a global AI-based HR technology platform. Copeland has also held various sales leadership roles at Qlik, Oracle, PeopleSoft, and Xerox, as well as FileBank, an enterprise content management company that he co-founded. Reichert previously led Productsup’s sales teams in Europe as Senior Vice President of Sales, EMEA, before being promoted to CSO. He has nearly a decade of experience in enterprise sales with high-growth technology companies, like Salesforce and Google.
Anna Jaycocks has joined digital gift card business Prezzee as its Head of Marketing for the UK. The Australian-born digital gift card company, which recently surpassed the A$1bn valuation mark, has established itself in the UK market with the aim of breaking into the £7bn UK gift economy before expanding into Europe. Jaycocks joins Prezzee from Blackhawk Network Europe.
Cashflows, the platform that makes it easy for merchants to accept payments, has announced the appointment of Hannah Fitzsimons as CEO. Fitzsimons joins Cashflows following more than 15 years at Elavon, where she rose to the position of President and General Manager, Europe. Prior to that, she held senior positions at Citi Bank and Natwest. With a wealth of finance and payments industry experience, Fitzsimons will steer Cashflows through the next phase in its trajectory following an impressive period of growth. The hire follows the appointment of Simon Haslam, previously Group Chief Executive Officer at Network International, as Chairman, in September.
The Collectv the broadcast solutions and workflows consultancy, is pleased to announce two new appointments to its UK team. Both based at the company’s London office, Nick Long joins as Project Manager, and Amy Kellie takes up the role of Operations Assistant. Working independently in film, TV and video for over twenty years, Long’s background in Post Production and Finishing has informed his work as a Producer and Technical Lead on projects. Being based at Pinewood Studios for many years has seen Long immersed in the heart of the industry and given him a chance to produce programming for many UK and international broadcasters and brands – ranging from documentaries, Live multi-camera shows, TV pilots and video content for Broadcasters and online distributors, to independent feature films and short-form narrative films. Kellie joins The Collectv team with a background working across commercials, events and conferences. Having studied Film and TV Production at the University of Greenwich, she gained technical knowledge of production equipment working in a kit room alongside her studies. Since graduating, she has organised commercials for small businesses and coordinated multiple concerts and conferences within the sound-image sector.
The Ozone Project, the high attention digital advertising platform, has hired Joao Barbosa into the newly-formed role of Director of Data Operations, reporting directly to the company’s Chief Technology Officer, Scott Switzer. Barbosa had previously spent more than four years as Director of Monetisation & Operational Analytics at Telegraph Media Group, one of The Ozone Project’s founding publishers. Prior to joining the Telegraph, Barbosa had a long career at Yahoo where he held a number of senior analytic and insight roles. In this new role, Barbosa will take responsibility for leading Ozone’s data stack to inform business strategy and value by building and developing a best-in-class team in the field of data engineering, data science and analytics.
Shutterstock, Inc. has announced the promotion of Meghan Schoen to Chief Product Officer (CPO). As CPO, Schoen will spearhead the development and execution of Shutterstock’s product vision. She will focus on strengthening the Company’s portfolio of content, services, application, and data business lines, and help the team to bring to market new and innovative products to meet evolving customer needs and demands. In her previous role as SVP of Product at the Company, Schoen oversaw the Product and UX function, where she was responsible for driving Shutterstock’s product strategy and roadmap. She led several of the Company’s recent acquisitions, such as PicMonkey, TurboSquid and three artificial intelligence platforms. Prior to Shutterstock, Schoen served as VP, Product Management at Meredith where she drove the consumer product vision, strategy, and execution for all Meredith and legacy Time brands.
Global content design agency, Content Design London, has announced the appointment of Mark Picken as its new Managing Director. Initially joining the company as a consultant in 2018, Picken has stepped-up and accepted the role of managing director of Content Design London, which will see him take over the day-to-day management of the organisation and direct its strategy going forward. Picken has over 20 years’ experience in communications and content design and was the founder of an award-winning communications agency, which he ran from 1999 until October 2021.
Global data and measurement-driven media agency, Essence, has announced the appointment of Anna Berry as its UK Managing Director. Berry has been promoted from SVP Head of Client Services EMEA. Since joining Essence in 2018, Berry has played an instrumental role in managing a raft of big-name clients, initially BT Group, and then across all key clients as her role expanded to Head of Client Services. Passionate about wellbeing, diversity and inclusion, Berry will focus on evolving best-in-class business practices, including Essence Flex, the new hybrid working approach adopted by the media agency this year. Prior to Essence, Berry spent 19 years at Mediacom as Business Partner working across a large range of clients including Sky, Direct Line Group and T-Mobile. She began her career as an Executive at BLM Group.
FIPP is delighted to announce that Jamie Gavin will take up the position of Acting Editor, starting next week. Covering for current Editor Sylkia Cartagena while she is on maternity leave, Gavin will act in both a writing and commissioning capacity, taking charge of overall strategic direction and bringing considerable experience to the role. Gavin has been a part of the FIPP team for many years, acting variously as videographer, features writer, and events reporter. He currently produces the network’s weekly Global Media Tech Regulation Tracker and writes the Week Kick-off column, which is published every Monday morning. In addition to his work with FIPP, Gavin is the founder and managing director of media company, inPress Online, and has also served for many years as a regular guest media commentator for the BBC, along with various other outlets. Following Gavin’s appointment, Ashley Norris will also join Sadie Hale on the FIPP features writing team. Norris has a deep knowledge of the media industry and has been the lead author on many FIPP reports including, most recently, The death of third-party cookies. He has also contributed to many FIPP events since 2015, and was instrumental in launching FIPP’s first podcast series last year.
Toluna, the consumer insights provider and parent company of Harris Interactive and KuRunData, has announced the promotion of Susan Vidler to Global Chief Research Officer. In this newly created role, Vidler will lead Toluna’s global research teams and will be responsible for developing, defining and implementing best practices across the research function. Vidler joined Harris Interactive (acquired by Toluna) in 2007, and has held several roles throughout her tenure, including Research Director, Head of Financial Services Research, Head of Research, Managing Director of Harris Interactive UK, and most recently, European Chief Research Officer. Over the past 14+ years, Vidler has worked closely with clients to deliver leading consumer insights that enable them to make critical business decisions.
ESG technology provider Emex has appointed two new senior hires to its global leadership team. Rich Waller joins Emex as the company’s new Chief Revenue Officer with Hugh Allspaugh announced as new Chief Marketing Officer. With a background in software engineering, Waller has worked as an executive, investor and advisor to start-ups in digital health, mobile technology, and real estate driving innovation, growth strategy and revenue execution. He previously co-founded VisiQuate, a big data analytics company leveraging complex data and machine learning to reduce administrative waste in the healthcare industry. He also co-founded a real estate development and consulting company working for investors and private equity firms on projects in multi and single family, hospitality, gaming, and retail. Waller’s experience will be essential in delivering new and innovative ESG solutions to market. Also reporting to global CEO Richard Wall, Allspaugh joined Emex from VSA Partners as the new Chief Marketing Officer in September. With three decades of global branding and marketing agency experience across New York, London, Los Angeles and Chicago, Allspaugh brings a wealth of experience in the sustainability space to Emex as well. He previously sat on the Sappi NA Sustainability Council from 2016-2021 and acted as the lead strategist for Sappi’s annual sustainability report.
STL has announced two additions to its leadership team in the Services and Software businesses. STL’s Services business is poised for global growth and expansion into the 5G RAN deployment space and the Software business is set to scale globally with innovation at the centre. In line with these ambitious global plans, STL onboarded Praveen Cherian, as the CEO for Network Services Business, and Raman Venkatraman as the CEO for Software Business. Prior to joining STL, Cherian was the Executive Vice President and Head of Infrastructure Services for India and South East Asia at IBM where he was driving Project based and Managed Services businesses. He also holds directorial positions on the board of reputed IT services and software companies. Venkatraman comes from TCS where he was the Senior Vice President and Global Head for HiTech and Professional Services and also the global head for partnerships and alliances.
OGL Group has made two promotions to its leadership team, as part of a company-wide senior-level recruitment drive, resulting from the business’ strong performance, and its strategy to deliver an ambitious five-year growth plan. Rachel Seagrove has been promoted to Head of IT Delivery and Claire Jones to Head of Software Sales. In her new position as Head of IT Delivery, Seagrove will be responsible for introducing operational efficiencies into the IT Solutions division and improving transparency and collaboration across the business. Joining Seagrove will be Claire Jones, Head of Software Sales. Her role includes working closely with the marketing and account management teams to ensure OGL’s product placement is strong among target audiences. She will also work with the development, delivery and support teams to ensure the seamless roll-out of the software and excellent customer experience.
Independent creative agency, MATTA has announced the appointment of Paul Mitcheson to the position of Brand & Strategy Director, a key leadership role in MATTA’s growing Brand and Strategy team. Mitcheson, joining from Movember, the men’s health charity, which is very much in the headlines this month, brings with him two decades of global experience in brand comms – 11 of them agency-side prior to moving to Movember. Mitcheson’s remit at MATTA will include driving MATTA’s presence at the intersection of sport and health. Mitcheson joins Jean-Luc Gentilli who started as Brand & Strategy Director earlier in the autumn. Previously at AMV BBDO where he worked on accounts such as Ford, the Economist and Unilever brands Gentilli will head up some of MATTA’s largest sporting clients. Both he and Mitcheson will report directly into Matt Hunt, Executive Brand & Strategy Director at MATTA. These are just two of the latest in a number of hires at MATTA brought on board to grow the agency’s fitness and wellbeing expertise, including Pete Gomori MATTA’s new Creative Director who has over 15 years’ experience working with the likes of NowTV and Intersport. Finally, Terry Wong, Senior Brand & Strategy Manager joins from GREY bringing extensive well-being experience working with the likes of GSK.
