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.

OMD’s Hamid Habib comes on board Starcom as UK MD
Media communications firm Starcom has announced the appointment of Hamid Habib as its new UK managing director. The newly created role will see Habib report into Starcom UK’s group chief executive and president of global network clients for EMEA Jodie Stranger, and will centre on creating a truly integrated local and international leadership centre for the company.

While his most recent role was as chief strategy and innovation officer at OMD, the move represents a return to the Publicis Groupe fold for Habib, who previously served as head of strategy for Zenith Media between 2005 and 2012. At Starcom, he will be responsible for driving growth and new business, building the company’s Human Experience positioning in the UK market, and recruiting and retaining talent to service Starcom’s client list.

The hire builds on the unique structure that Stranger has put in place for managing Starcom’s portfolio of international and UK-focused clients, bringing both local and international leadership together as one team. While Stranger will retain overall responsibility for local and international business, Habib will have a direct brief to develop the agency’s local business and team.

“Starcom’s Human Experience focus aligns completely with how I see brands’ interactions with consumers developing,” said Habib. “The future of marketing will be marrying human creativity with new opportunities that technology provides. This blend creates the actions that brands need and the experiences that people love. This is an exciting opportunity to redefine the way in which local and international business collaborate and partner in a global agency setting.”

Impact Radius names martech veteran Scott Brazina as company’s first CMO
Scott Brazina has joined Impact Radius to serve as chief marketing officer for the marketing intelligence and performance firm. Brazina brings over 16 years of experience in software-as-a-service marketing and strategic business development leadership to the team, and will oversee Impact Radius’ global marketing strategy, brand-building and communications.

Prior to joining Impact Radius, Brazina was vice president of martech & media at internet performance management firm Dyn, which was acquired by Oracle in 2016. He also served as chief marketing officer at DataXu, a leading marketing technology company. Brazina will be based in the firm’s New York office, and will report directly to CEO David Yovanno.

“Scott is a talented, multifaceted executive whose deep experience marketing enterprise software, vision and leadership come at a critical inflection point as Impact Radius scales and sharpens its global go-to-market strategy,” said Yovanno. “Scott will work with the EMEA team on delivering an extensive marketing, events and communications strategy to cement our already strong position in this market.”

Impact Radius also announced that Adam Furness would be joining the company to serve as the new managing director of Asia Pacific. Furness is a seasoned executive with experience scaling business operations of media, advertising and tech companies for the past 16 years, and will managing the company’s operations in the APAC region from the Sydney office, also reporting directly to Yovanno.

New general manager for Toronto-based Climax Media
Dana Di Ponio is set to become general manager for Climax Media, a leading Toronto-based digital agency. In her new role, Di Ponio will help oversee operations and new business development, working closely with Climax Media’s executive leadership team as the company prepares for growth and expansion.

With 20 years of agency experience, leading teams across a wide range of sectors, Di Ponio has built a reputation for expertise in project, program and operations management. She most recently served as vice president of project management at Critical Mass, overseeing programs in both Toronto and New York for Citigroup, Bank of Montreal, Inifiniti Global, Nissan Canada and Quinnipiac University. Prior to Critical Mass, she has held several leadership positions at Blast Radius, culminating in director of project services.

“I’m looking forward to joining Climax Media in this exciting time for the company and the opportunity to work with their incredibly talented team,” said Di Ponio. “I was drawn by the impressive client roster, the amazing work being done, and the fresh and innovative approach by this privately held agency.”

Teads adds talent from FT, Accenture and AOL
Video ad tech firm Teads has made 10 new seniors hires, filling spaces at its London office with top executive talent from the Financial Times, GroundTruth, inSkin, Accenture, Maxus and AOL. Within the appointments, Teads has named three domestic industry directors who will fuel the firm’s growth and support the global strategic accounts team, as the company seeks to capitalise on the popularity of its Outstream video format.

The three new industry directors are Jamie Towards, formerly managing partner for content at Accenture and Karmarama; Charlotte Williamson, previously head of luxury at the Financial Times; and Ian Webber, who served as global head of automotive for AOL. They will work with agencies and clients in the FMCG, luxury and auto spaces, respectively, to help them understand where their digital ad spend is going and how their budget can best be deployed.

Alongside the industry directors, the company has made a series of hires and promotions aimed at bolstering all areas of its senior team. Promotions include Rachel Arch, who becomes head of programmatic & business development for UK; Ryan Cook, who is now EMEA vice president of business development; and Paolo Mule, who is promoted to head of international and new markets. New joiners to Teads include Imran Khan, who arrives from GroundTruth to be vice president of strategic development, and Graham Alexander, former global marketing project manager at Maxus, who will be UK director of marketing.

“It’s a privilege to welcome such amazing and varied talent to the Teads team of more than 500 people worldwide,” said Justin Taylor, managing director for UK at Teads. “Advertiser demand for brand-safe, clean advertising across premium environments shows no sign of abating; these ten new hires introduce new expertise and experience to help us fulfil that demand.”

Merouane Saadi becomes SpotX’s first hire dedicated to Belgium
Video ad serving platform SpotX is further expanding its operations in Europe by adding Merouane Saadi as director of platform services. Based in Belgium, Saadi will build a team to help publishers and broadcasters in Belgium with their programmatic video advertising activities, and is SpotX’s first hire dedicated to the Belgian market.

Saadi brings extensive experience from both the buy-side and sell-side of the programmatic ad industry in Europe. Most recently, he worked as managing director for Benelux at Gamned!, following two years as a programmatic trading specialist at IP Belgium, where he launched the programmatic advertising activities for the firm. He has also held roles at Cadreon, Universal McCann and Mindshare. Saadi will report to Elwin Gastelaars, managing director for Benelux and Nordics at SpotX.

“I was attracted to the opportunity of working for a global company that is the most promising advertising platform in a fast-growing market, and to play a key role in developing its Benelux presence” said Saadi. “We are committed to offering the best in customer support to broadcasters and publishers in Belgium, and I’m looking forward to being a part of SpotX’s continued growth across Europe.”