The mobile marketing industry is ever-changing, and that applies to the people as much as the technology. Movers & Shakers is our regular feature following the hottest hires in the industry, so you can keep track of who’s joined which company, and what they’re doing there.

AT&T adds ad & analytics CMO

Kirk McDonald has been appointed as the first chief marketing officer of AT&T’s Advertising and Analytics unit, formed this August.

McDonald joins AT&T from PubMatic, where he was president, and previously held the same role at Time Inc – a company which AT&T is currently in the process of acquiring.

At AT&T, McDonald will be responsible for the creation and implementation of the new company’s marketing strategy. He will report to Brian Lesser, appointed as CEO in August.

“Kirk brings invaluable experience in the media and advertising technology space,” said Lesser. “He is a transformational leader – one of many who will join AT&T as we invest in and build a new kind of advertising business.”

OfferMoments strengthens board
OfferMoments has added to its board and appointed a new CEO, following the £1.5m funding that the ad tech firm raised in September.

Garry Partington, chairman and co-founder of Apadmi, has been named CEO, leading day-to-day operations alongside OfferMoment’s founders, CTO Shahzad Mughal and CMO Abdul Alim.

The company’s board will be chaired by venture capitalist Michael Edelson, who led the investment round, along with fellow investors Paul Althasen and Howard Simms, CEO of Apadmi Ventures.

“While working with Apadmi, and due to Garrys involvement in shaping the future of the OfferMoments, we quickly recognised that we needed someone to provide the next level of leadership to drive our vision forward and help us realise the commercialisation of the platform,” said Mughal. “We saw those qualities in Garry, hence his appointment.”

Ayre joins Suggestv following $1m investment
Video discovery platform Suggestv has appointed David Ayre as head of business development.

Ayre joins from Teads, where he worked as senior business development of UK and Ireland and helped pushed the adoption of the Outstream ad format, and before that worked at Criteo. At Suggestv, Ayre will be focused on publisher development.

The hire comes off the back of Suggestv’s recent $1m seed investment round.

“We are delighted David has joined us from Teads,” said Suggestv CEO James Pringle. “He has had a massive impact on publishers video revenue so far, through his work at previous companies, and by joining Suggestv he will be instrumental in helping them make more money from the shift to video consumption.”

Journey Further adds three
Programmatic ad agency Journey Further has made a number of hires, as it grows its team from the three staff it had at launch in January, to a total of 15.

Neil Astin has been appointed head of biddable media, after six years at Epiphany Search – CEO Robin Skidmore’s previous company – responsible for the company’s PPC, programmatic and paid social offerings.

“I am relishing the challenge of heading up the most ambitious and talented biddable team around,” said Astin. “Our proposition of connecting clients directly to senior analysts means we can deliver results at a speed unachievable by other agencies. I believe that fostering a culture of openness and transparency, both internally and externally, will help us achieve our goals in the years to come.”

Kim Harwood has joined the company as senior analyst, with prior experience at iProspect and Carat, and Jonathan Hemingway as analyst, making the move from Stickyeyes.