Global provider of connectivity and internet services VEON has announced the appointment of a new Group Communications Director, Marina Levina. Levina has 25 years of experience in the IT and telecommunications industries across the Asia Pacific, Europe, Russia, and CIS markets having previously held key executive communications positions at Microsoft as Director of Asia Pacific Regional Communications at Microsoft and Ericsson where she held the position of Vice President of Communications in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Global technology company, Brand Metrics has announced a new hire in the US. Following a period of significant growth, Taylor Sturtevant has been appointed to head up the US Customer Success team. Previously Director, Customer Success at Marketing Evolution, a New York-based provider of marketing measurement and optimisation solutions, Sturtevant is an experienced industry professional with an impressive track record in market research, team leadership, customer service and strategic planning. She will be focused on client relationships, travelling frequently to ensure a presence on the ground, and in the relevant time zones.
Public sector delivery provider, Made Tech, has announced the appointment of Deborah Lovegrove as its new CFO. Deborah Lovegrove has over 25 years of experience in finance. Previous roles include Chief Financial Officer and Finance Director roles for organisations including Wavemaker (owned by WPP), Dentsu Aegis and GMTV (subsequently acquired by ITV).
Multi-market Performance PR and Reputation Management agency Digital Trails has announced the appointment of two senior hires to strengthen the core management team. Jack Oakley joins as new Client & Business Director to lead operations in the UK, whilst Helena Duro will lead marketing and branding across UK and European markets. Jack Oakley joins the firm with close to a decade of performance marketing experience, having been most recently Performance Content Director at global agency Havas Media. He has a strong background driving digital and content strategies for leading global and local brands including Homebase, O2, Legal & General, and John West among others. Helena Duro brings a wealth of marketing experience both in-house and agency side, having led multi-channel marketing initiatives for brands such as The Guardian Jobs, RBS, and Tobacco Dock, as well as specialising in content marketing and social media strategy for start-up brands in recent years.
Kyma Media has promoted Hannah Anderson to Managing Director as the media publisher sets sights on further growth. Previously joining Kyma Media in May 2021 as director of social and creative, Anderson has led the agency in doubling its team size and revenues over the last four months. Alongside onboarding several of the world’s largest creators to the syndication programme, Anderson has launched two new Snapchat Discover shows, one of which getting 100,000 subscribers in its first 30 days.
Start-up CEO, business advisor and Vodafone’s ex-Global Head of Connected Car, David Levine is joining Enterprise City to share knowledge and provide support for the tech start-up community. The experienced tech entrepreneur will be the ‘Entrepreneur In Residence’ for the Exchange start-up support scheme. As part of this new role, he will be on hand to offer a fresh perspective to the ambitious start-ups selected for the scheme and will prepare them in becoming investment-ready. Levine is the founder and ex-CEO of DigitalBridge; a guided design platform for bathroom and kitchen retailers. He is also an experienced non-executive director and advisor to a number of exciting tech startups in the North West. He was formerly the Global Head of Connected Car at Vodafone and spent seven years working at the office of the CTO at Hewlett-Packard.
Digital agency Dept is expanding its global leadership team with the addition of Amanda Schmidt to Chief People Officer and Missy Foristall to Chief Operations Officer. Schmidt joins from WPP/Group M’s Essence, where she was Global Chief People Officer. Foristall was previously Vice President at IBM within their Digital, Marketing and Technology groups. Dept has also announced a new structure to its regional leadership as it continues its international expansion. In addition to the introduction of a new regional c-level, Dept has created Global SVP roles to unite and drive the agency’s services across all of its operating markets. In the UK, Jamie Kenny and Alex Miller, the co-founders of Byte (part of Dept) which joined Dept in February 2021, will step into the roles of Global SVPs of Creative & Content. Jonathan Whiteside, co-founder of Building Blocks which joined Dept in 2016, will move from his role as Principal Technology Consultant into Global SVP of Technology & Engineering, together with Jesse Streb, co-founder of Rocket Insights (part of Dept) in the US. Willem Blom steps into the role of Global SVP of Media, Performance & Data. Regional leadership appointments include Joep Roosen, Chief Operations Officer for Dept Europe, Ashley Streb, Chief Client Officer for Dept Americas and Alisa Kuno, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer for Dept Americas.
Havas Media Group has appointed Catherine Lux as its Head of SEO following a period of growth for its performance business, which has seen it take on more SEO work from existing clients as well as picking up a number of new accounts. Lux joins Havas Media Group after spending three years working at Google in London as a Content Lead, where she was responsible for driving content strategy across key B2B products in EMEA. Prior to her time at Google, Lux worked at IPG Mediabrands agency Reprise Media in Sydney, managing the global Tourism Australia SEO account across 18 markets worldwide, as well as Coca-Cola’s APAC account. With almost ten years’ experience in the digital marketing space, Lux also spent almost three years at Omnicom’s Manning Gottlieb OMD, where she worked on brands including TSB, Starbucks, and Virgin Media.
