Movers & Shakers: Glispa, AppNexus, Truth and Nano Interactive

  • Thursday, February 22nd, 2018
  • Author: Tim Maytom
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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.

(Clockwise from top left) John Hook, Antoinette Hamilton, Alastair Gornall, Oliver Southgate

Hook takes up chief commercial officer role at Glispa
Mobile ad tech firm Glispa has appointed Jon Hook to the newly created role of chief commercial officer. Based in Glispa’s London office, Hook is charged with commercialising Glispa’s solutions and will report to CEO Itamar Benedy. Following two years of strategic acquisitions and product development, Glispa now consists of four distinct offerings, covering mobile app install campaigns, a programmatic ad exchange, a mobile discovery platform and an ad creation platform for advertisers and agencies.

Joining from AdColony, where he was vice president of brands and agencies, Hook brings over a decade of brand and agency mobile experience to Glispa. His agency-side credentials include his role as head of mobile and digital investment at MediaCom, where he was charged with running international digital and mobile investment, and leading mobile strategy and advertising for MediaCom’s global and UK clients.

After co-founding mobile premium ad network Odyssey Mobile, Hook took up the mantle of general manager for advertising following its sale to Phunware in December 2014. He has also advised several mobile technology companies including Vyking.IO and Kaizen App, and sat on boards of industry bodies including the Mobile Marketing Association and BPA Worldwide, as well as the IAB UK’s Video Steering Committee.

“Advertisers are demanding transparency, compliant data and audience profiling and creativity from their partners,” Hook said. “How can you deliver this if you do not own technology or if you operate within one siloed piece of the puzzle? Through acquisition and R&D via its 100-strong engineering team, Glispa owns all the pieces of the puzzle that advertisers require to succeed – from the creative platform, to the exchange, to owned and operated distributions channels.”

AppNexus names new VP of diversity, inclusion and community experience
Antoinette Hamilton is set to join ad tech firm AppNexus as vice president of diversity, inclusion and community experience, a new position within the company. In the role, she will spearhead initiatives to promote a diverse and inclusive global community within AppNexus, broaden the range of the company’s talent pipeline, and drive thought leadership, employee training, and best corporate practices.

Prior to joining AppNexus, Hamilton served as the assistant vice president of diversity and inclusion at L’Oréal USA for 14 years, where she partnered with business units to form best practices in diversity management and employee engagement, and to develop training, recruitment, and communication strategies, practices, and metrics for all L’Oréal USA divisions.

As vice president of diversity, inclusion and community experience, Hamilton will lead the strategy for D&I initiatives across AppNexus’ global community, ensuring alignment with executive and senior management. She will head AppNexus’ Diversity & Inclusion Steering Committee and joins AppNexus’ People Leadership Team and AppNexus’ Executive Team, reporting directly to Nithya Das, chief people and legal officer.

“AppNexus’ executive leadership shares a robust commitment to building a diverse and inclusive future for our company,” said Hamilton. “I am excited to join a leadership team whose values are so intrinsically woven into their overall corporate strategy and which views diversity as a lever to propel the business forward.”

TMGs Truth announces Oliver Southgate as chief technology officer

Truth, the TMG-owned media agency powered by blockchain technology, has revealed the latest member of its leadership team in the form of Oliver Southgate, who will serve as the companys chief technology officer. Truth launched in November 2017 and utilises blockchain smart contract technology to provide increased transparency in the media supply chain.

Southgate joins the firm from retail technology platform Shopitize, and boasts more than 20 years of experience in working in the publishing, marketing and ad technology sectors. His previous roles include head of data and technology at Havas Media Group UK, technology director at Digitas LBi, and managing director at The Social Group.

“I’m hugely excited by the challenges that lay ahead at Truth,” said Southgate. “The opportunity to work with such a great team on such a massively disruptive and innovative project is something I relish.”
Media specialist Alastair Gornall becomes non-executive chairman at Nano Interactive
Nano Interactive, one of Europes leading real-time intent targeting specialists, has appointed Alastair Gornall to serve as its non-executive chairman. Gornalls appointment follows the announcement of a £3.5m growInteractive by private equity investment firm Foresight.
Gornall is a highly experienced and successful business leader who has worked across the media, event and communications worlds. Since 2011, he has been the strategic advisor to Gartner, and his previous roles include co-founding award winning PR agency Scope Communications, serving as CEO of Reed Exhibitions and acting as non-executive chairman for a number of leading PR agencies.

“I am really excited to join this experienced and talented team at this pivotal moment in the company’s growth story,” said Gornall. “The ad-tech sector is very fast moving so it’s refreshing to see a company with a clear strategic vision to differentiate and to offer the market unique brand safe products.”