Interviews, insight & analysis on digital media & marketing

Talent Tracker: Snap Inc., isobel, Wolff Olins and more

Amber Sayer joins Snap Inc. as Senior Head of Retail and Ecommerce. She will be based in London, reporting to Ed Couchman, UK General Manager. In this newly created position, Sayer will sit in the Enterprise Leadership team and lead the Retail and E-commerce division in the UK.   
Sayer previously spent more than six years at ASOS, overseeing ASOS Media Group which was responsible for driving innovative cut through marketing campaigns for their top tier supplier brands. Previous roles include; five years at Jamie Oliver Group heading up his commercial arm and roles at UKTV and Auto Trader prior to this. As part of her new role, Sayer will manage the account teams responsible for driving business from more than 40 leading retail and e-commerce brands and supporting their digital transformation journey.

Independent creative agency isobel has made four new hires, as it continues to grow as an agency.  All four hires are in account management, with Account Directors Becky Devereaux-Pile joining from Grey, and Canadian Steph Hurl, joining from Rethink Communications in Vancouver. Devereaux-Pile and Hurl are joined by Account Executives Ellie Dickenson and Joni Borteye. Dickenson joins from Sports Marketing agency Two Circles where she was a data analyst, and Borteye has been running her own Instagram led fine dining business.

Wolff Olins has appointed Wayne Deakin into the role of Global Principal. He joins the Wolff Olins global client-facing leadership team with a remit to advance and enhance their existing Experience offer. Deakin joins from Interpublic Group’s global experience agency, Huge, where he has been ECD EMEA since April 2018, working with brands including Spotify, P&G, Google and Verizon with a focus on creating seamless experiences across digital, physical and communications touchpoints for brands. He was previously Executive Creative Director of AKQA London, and also Creative Founder of JAM, then re-branded as Deep Focus and part of Engine Group, where Deakin became joint ECD for Engine in 2013.

Global data company Fifty-five London, which forms part of You & Mr Jones, the world’s first brandtech group has made a key senior hire, naming Kunal Patel as associate director. Patel joins the leadership team at Fifty-five’s London office, having previously ran his own digital marketing consultancy, working with clients including SoftLabs SpA Italy and Vodafone Group. With extensive experience across many sectors, Patel will work across Fifty-five’s roster of clients driving growth in its data-driven marketing, advertising and customer experience consultancy and implementation solutions. Fifty-five London’s portfolio of clients include brands such as Adidas, Currys, Hilton Hotels and Pandora.

Totalmobile, a Field Service Management Software (FSM) company, has introduced Gerard O’Keeffe as Managing Director of Utilities and Infrastructure business. O’Keeffe brings to the role over 30 years of experience in the utilities industry, working with companies such as Nortel, Aer Lingus and GeoPal. In his new position, O’Keeffe will coordinate the services of one of Totalmobile’s core sectors, Utilities and Infrastructure. He will oversee the establishment of the business unit and ensure customers are provided with the highest quality of service.

Landor & Fitch, the global brand transformation company, has announced the appointment of Jane Bloomfield as Global Chief Marketing Officer. Bloomfield will be responsible for developing innovative new business, marketing and communication strategies across the Landor & Fitch group. She will act as a strategic lead for business development teams, with an overall focus to drive new business opportunities as Landor & Fitch continues to expand both its offer and its geographical reach. With extensive experience in understanding consumers, brands and communications, Bloomfield has a unique sales, marketing and insights-driven background. Before joining Landor & Fitch’s management team, Bloomfield held successive leadership roles; most recently as Chief Growth Officer at Kantar UK.

Quentin Ellis has been appointed Managing Director at ConsultMyApp (CMA). In his new role at ConsultMyApp, Ellis will be responsible for driving growth, realizing new talent and developing CMA’s training capabilities. Ellis has over 15 years of experience as a digital strategist, growing and managing teams locally, near and offshore, and creating compelling product experiences. Prior to his arrival at ConsultMyApp, Ellis was co-founder and Director of Strategy and Experience of Cohaesus, the Managing Director at Bright Blue Day Digital and has acted as UX Director for companies including Sideshow, Make It Donate and Sainsburys Bank. His recent experience growing Cohaesus from a digital production company to a full-service strategic consultancy, will prove invaluable as he steps into its new role with ConsultMyApp.

Truant London, having doubled in size after winning high-profile accounts including Pepsi, PizzaExpress and Virgin, has appointed Toni Gaventa, formerly of Crispin Porter Bogusky, Sky TV and Fiat UK, as Business Director. Having previously worked in both creative agencies (Crispin Porter Bogusky, Iris, Krow) and in-house within the brand and marketing teams of Sky TV, Fiat UK and Just Eat Takeaway, Gaventa brings invaluable experience in delivering results-driven multichannel campaigns. Gaventa, who will report to Truant’s Co-Founder and CEO, Chris Jefford, will take overall responsibility for the agency’s PizzaExpress account. Her remit includes helping the brand gain an unfair share of attention, solving business challenges and driving creative excellence. In addition, Gaventa will develop long term growth opportunities for both Pizza Express and Truant, while also sitting on the agency’s newly-created talent-nurturing Client Services Leadership Team. 

Nyobolt, the original founder of ultra-fast charge, high-power lithium-ion battery technology, has announced the appointment of Shane Davies as the newest member and leader of Software and Controls department to deliver Nyobolt’s innovative and advanced battery and charging technology into customer projects. With over 25 years of expertise in the automotive industry, Davis was leading development teams across multiple areas within Hybrid and Electric vehicles segments, and now in position of Engineering Director will bring his invaluable experience and insights, driving Nyobolt’s technology further and improving customer experience. His career commenced in 1996 in Cambridge-based software start-up Tarragon Embedded technology, and since then he has subsequently worked for Ricardo, MathWorks and Mercedes AMG in roles ranging from Senior Engineer to Chief Engineer and Production Software Lead.

Immersive Labs has announced the appointment of Jennifer Johnson to the Board of Directors. As a category creation expert, four-time CMO Jennifer Johnson brings expertise helping define categories to capture market share, scale organizations through periods of hypergrowth and positioning them for successful public offerings. She is currently Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at Amplitude, the pioneer of the emerging Digital Optimization category, and former Chief Marketing Officer of cybersecurity leaders Tenable and Tanium. Johnson was also former Chief Marketing Officer of Coverity (now Synopsys) and a partner at Andreessen Horowitz. She is currently on the Board of Directors of Illumio and an advisor with Play Bigger. Her wealth of cybersecurity sector expertise, category creation and go-to-market execution will help Immersive Labs shape the landscape and capture market share. The appointment follows the recent announcement of Immersive Labs founding Chief Marketing Officer, Evelyn Swaim. Together, the pair bring considerable brand strategy and go-to-market experience to support the company’s significant growth plans, which are supported by $123m of venture capital funding.  

Exabeam has announced the appointment of Gianna Driver as Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). As CHRO, Driver is chartered with creating scalable processes that will enrich the employee experience and enable Exabeam employees to do their best work. She will be responsible for architecting the company’s talent strategy, driving corporate culture and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and leading the global human resources function. Driver will also manage the strategy and processes related to building, investing in, and retaining top talent at Exabeam. Driver brings nearly 20 years of executive human resources management experience in small, large, private, and public global companies to Exabeam. Prior to Exabeam, Driver was the Chief People Officer at BlueVine, a private fintech company based in Redwood City, CA. Before BlueVine, Driver led HR and People functions in high-growth technology, gaming, consumer, and SaaS organisations including Playstudios, Aristocrat, Actian Corporation, Talend, and Balsam Brands.

Globalization Partners, which simplifies global remote team building by making it fast and easy for companies to hire anyone, anywhere within minutes via its global employment platform, has announced the appointment of Bob Cahill to the newly created role of President. Cahill has served as the company’s Chief Financial Officer for three years. In his new role as President, Cahill will manage day-to-day operations of the company and work in tandem with CEO and Founder Nicole Sahin to continue to expand the company’s employment platform to new markets and languages and realise Globalization Partners’ mission to enable businesses to hire talent anywhere in the world, while ensuring world-class legal, HR and compliance standards. The entire C-suite will report up to Cahill. Cahill joined Globalization Partners in 2018, bringing 20 years of C-suite experience. During his tenure as CFO, he has been instrumental in building and scaling Globalization Partners into an extraordinarily high-growth, global remote work platform, cementing its status as the leading global employment platform spanning 187 countries. Cahill brings extensive knowledge of all aspects of business management with substantial experience in scaling rapidly growing companies. In addition, he has helped guide numerous companies through complex M&A transactions and IPOs. 

SpringServe, the independent ad serving platform, has announced the appointment of Leon Siotis as Head of International. Siotis was formerly the President of EMEA at SpotX. In this role, Siotis will spearhead SpringServe’s efforts outside of the US, working to ensure global publishers have access to the right technology to keep pace with the acceleration in CTV and online video (OLV) ad spend growth. The news follows Springserve’s acquisition by Magnite, the world’s largest independent omnichannel sell-side advertising platform, earlier this year.

Product design and innovation agency, Design Partners, has strengthened its senior team with the addition of Robert Bau as Chief Service Innovation Officer. Bau will use his expertise in service innovation, service design, service branding, and UX strategy to grow and nurture Design Partners’ service design capability – an emerging design discipline revamping and reimagining business models, value propositions, end-to-end experiences, and operating models for service organizations. Bau has a proven track record for driving growth through innovation, having led over 250 multi-disciplinary innovation and design teams across multiple continents, for world-class companies including Ascension, CarMax, Exelon, Ford, and Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA). 

Contentsquare has announced the appointment of Kat Borlongan to the newly created position of Chief Impact Officer (CIO). As Chief Impact Officer, Borlongan will lead Contentsquare’s efforts to extend the company mission into areas that deliver greater impact, focusing beyond revenue growth. Borlongan will also work closely with leadership and the entire Contentsquare team to achieve high standards for the company’s end users (digital trust and privacy), employees (DE&I) and the planet (sustainability). Borlongan is a former entrepreneur and French government official who served under the Macron administration for over three years as Director of La French Tech, a government-led mission built to bolster France’s startup ecosystem. During her tenure, the program rolled out the most open tech employee visa in the world, created a national growth-stage program (French Tech Next40/120), launched a €25M meta-accelerator for underprivileged founders, and supported thousands of startups amidst the Covid crisis. She is currently an acting board member of the European Innovation Council (EIC), where she advises the European Commission’s €10 billion flagship program for developing and scaling Europe’s deeptech startup ecosystem.

impact.com, the global partnership management platform, which supports over one million partnerships for more than 1,600 brands, has announced the appointment of a number of new Business Development Representatives in EMEA as demand soars for its partnership automation technology. Dr Fatima Osman has been appointed as Business Development Representative, UK & Ireland and EMEA, tasked with scaling impact.com’s Business Development function in the UK and other key markets in Europe. Prior to joining the growing team at impact.com, she worked in business development at Ezra, part of The Adecco Group, and in workforce transformation at Lee Hecht Harrison, a leading integrated talent development and career transition company operating in over 60 countries, also part of The Adecco Group. She speaks both Arabic and English. Billy Brooks has joined the new BDR team for Trackonomics having worked for six years at global real estate company, Savills, as Client Services Consultant. impact.com acquired Trackonomics earlier this year, in a boost to its publisher commerce content capabilities. Trackonomics provides full-funnel revenue attribution – informing publishers as to exactly how every page is generating income or losing it and enabling them to make better and quicker decisions. Conor Johnston has also joined, from Accenture. A Facebook marketing expert, he will further bolster the Trackonomics team. An experienced account executive with a demonstrated history of working with CRM software, he is adept at building strong relationships with stakeholders and clients as well as providing value in sales and marketing strategies. Prior to joining impact.com, Conor worked on behalf of Facebook by managing a portfolio of SMB clients with the aim of generating revenue via their marketing campaigns through consultation, education and support – managing and growing a diverse portfolio of clients in Ireland, UK and the Nordics with an average monthly revenue of $500,000.

Meanwhile, impact.com welcomes Jacob Alberga, who has gained experience at companies such as Sky, Telegraph Media Group and Facebook, with a number of key sales roles under his belt. Jacob will be joining the Business Development Team in London working on the Mid Market segment, having recently worked as an Account Sales Manager at a programmatic digital advertising company and as Delegate Sales Executive at a conference company.And in the German market, Philipp Zehender joins as Business Development Representative, having previously worked in onsite marketing at Tchibo, one of the largest German consumer goods and retail companies, and at SIXT Share. He is working towards completing a Master of Science in Digital Innovation and Business Transformation and holds a BA in Business Administration and Management. Also appointed to the growing team based out of Germany are Niklas Kruse and Fabio Blaimberger. Kruse has valuable experience in digital product development, B2C and B2B marketing, having worked at TwoTickets.de, while Blaimberger gained experience at ON Running, the fastest growing sports brand worldwide.

Performance marketing agency Journey Further has appointed Debbie Capell as its Chief Operating Officer. Capell will be responsible for leading Journey Further’s operations in the UK and US to deliver against the company’s ambitious five-year growth plans. She will be joining the executive board to develop the agency’s operations vision and will be working closely with the senior team to build a world-class training and people function. Capell brings over 17 years’ experience in operations, working for the likes of Xerox, thebigword, Close Brothers and most recently, Solera. The appointment comes as the agency gears up for its launch in the USA, which will see CEO, Robin Skidmore relocate and take the role of Global CEO, with Managing Director, Matt Kwiecinski, becoming UK CEO. Capell’s appointment follows that of James Addlestone, who joined in August as Chief Strategy Officer.

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