Movers & Shakers: TabMo, Marketo, Apple, Ligatus and Social Chain

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

Movers and Shakers 25 May
(Left to right) Leroy Holland, Manoj Goyal, Denise Young Smith, Alex McIlvenny, Samuel Budd, Lucy Clarke, Steven Bartlett, Cathal Berragan and Michael Heaven

TabMo Launches US Presence with Offices in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles
Mobile creative DSP firmTabMo is expanding into the US market, making its mobile-specific buying platform available to advertisers and agencies in North America for the first time. To support the expansion, the company has opened new offices in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles and made a number of key hires.

Leroy Holland has joined as managing director for the US and will oversee TabMo’s growth initiatives and relationships in the US market. Holland boasts over a decade of experience in interactive media and ad tech, including roles at AOL, DoubleVerify, AdRoll and, most recently, Kiosked.

In addition, Eric Morse and Anna Gaetke will led sales efforts in Los Angeles and Chicago respectively. Morse arrives from Resonate, where he served as West Coast director, following roles at Facebook and RocketFuel, while Gaetke most recently served as director of global agency sales for Rubicon Project, and also held a variety of sales and business development roles at ShopLocal.

“The world of mobile programmatic is still relatively new, but it is becoming incredibly important for media buying all around the globe,” said Holland. “As marketers continue to pursue their audiences in these unique environments, they’ll need technology built around mobile devices and delivery.”

Manoj Goyal Joins Marketo as Chief Product Officer
Marketo has appointed a new chief product officer in the form of industry veteran Manoj Goyal, who will oversee the product and engineering teams at the engaging marketing software and solutions firm. Goyal will report directly to Marketo CEO Steve Lucas.

“It is my pleasure to welcome Manoj to Marketo,” said Lucas. “We’re building a world-class engagement platform, and we’re thrilled to have Manoj as a driving force behind this initiative. He has a proven track record of delivering superior enterprise-grade products that scale to drive customer and business success, and will be invaluable to our team as Marketo continues to set the industry’s innovation agenda.”

Goyal brings more than 25 years of experience in sales acceleration, ad tech, CRM, big data analytics and more to Marketo. Most recently, he served as chief operating officer at sales automation company Velocify, leading the company’s product, technology and client success teams, and has previous held roles at OpenX, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and EMC.

Apple Appoints Denise Young Smith to Newly Created Diversity Role
Tech giant Apple is reaffirming its commitment to increasing diversity at the company with the creation of a new role, vice president of diversity and inclusion, which will be filled by long-time Apple employee Denise Young Smith, who previously served as vice president of global talent and human resources.

Smith, who will report directly to CEO Tim Cook, has been at Apple for over 20 years and was handpicked by Steve Jobs to serve as head of HR for Apple’s retail stores during the early days of Apple’s retail efforts. She reportedly has a passion for diversity initiatives, and has served as a spokesperson for Apple on the subject in the past.

“Our inclusion and diversity efforts are critically important to Apple’s future,” said an Apple spokesperson in a statement on the appointment. “Denise’s years of experience, expertise and passion will help us make an even greater impact in this area.”

Ligatus Names New Country Manager as Part of UK Push
Native ad solutions firm Ligatus has announced Alex McIlvenny is joining the company as country manager for the UK, as the company seeks to strengthen its position in Britain with a new London office. Ligatus, which is headquartered in Germany, already has an established presence in 10 other markets, and is hoping that the move into the UK will represent a strategic next step for the firm.

“Ligatus has already been phenomenally successful in creating partnerships with many of the leading players in this space including AppNexus, Criteo and The Trade Desk, and my goal is to further develop these relationships and others in the UK market,” said McIlvenny. “We also have ambitions to develop new and existing publisher relationships with a view to creating a UK publisher network that can deliver the benefits of native advertising programmatically.”

Before joining Ligatus, McIlvenny was managing director and group sales director at Mozoo, where he was responsible for growing the company’s brand presence, market share and revenues across the UK and France. He has also held roles at Widespace UK, where he was the first hire, and Haymarket Publishing.

Social Chain Forges a New Link with New York Office
Social marketing agency Social Chain is capitalising on recent successes in the US market by opening its first US office in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The overseas expansion will be led by Sam Budd, who has been promoted from global communication director to managing director, and will manage the 12-person team in New York.

“It’s extremely exciting that the US is now our fastest growing market,” said Steve Bartlett, co-founder and CEO of Social Chain. “We plan on putting a great deal of focus and some of our strongest talent behind it to accelerate. Myself, [co-founder] Dom [McGregor] and the board, we are really excited by the energy and experience that Sam will bring to the table with the US and look forward to continuing Social Chain’s global expansion. We already have our eyes set on LA in 2018.”

Social Chain’s US clients include Atlantic Records, Kiss Cosmetics and Olive Garden, and its April Fools’ Day activation for Glasses USA went viral, generating tens of thousands of site visits and millions of views in 24 hours. The company launched three years ago in Manchester, and also has offices in London and Berlin.