Movers & Shakers: Criteo, QueryClick, My6sense, DNA & Save the Children

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) Shruthi Chindalur, Ivan Braiker, Leeanne Weatherston, Haitham Fattah, Chris Liversidge, Kristi Hoyle, Stuart Ferrie, Jennifer Roberti, Christine Wise

Criteo appoints ex-LinkedIn and Oracle sales head to build on mid-market success
Shruthi Chindalur, former head of SMB for EMEA & LATAM customer business at LinkedIn Sales Solutions, has been named as Criteo’s new regional managing director for mid-market EMEA. She will be responsible for building on the success the firm has seen in mid-market businesses across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Mid-market businesses with yearly sales between £10m and £250m are facing increasing competition from online retail giants, and as a result Criteo has seen an uptake in interest from the mid-market sector, which now represents over a third of the company’s total revenue. Chindalur will be responsible for helping to educate marketers at mid-market businesses about the benefits of using big data and machine learning to deliver personalised, effective communications to shoppers.

“This new role represents an exciting challenge for me,” said Chindalur. “Marketing is undergoing such exciting change and Criteo’s technology is playing a crucial role in helping businesses of all sizes compete against the scale of huge online retailers. I’m looking forward to working with the team to support these businesses, helping them to think big and leverage the Criteo Commerce Marketing Ecosystem to succeed in today’s competitive marketplace.”

Chindalur brings over 15 years’ experience working with small and medium-sized businesses to Criteo. Prior to her role at LinkedIn, she was EMEA sales director at Oracle, and she boasts a deep understanding of digital sales across a wide range of industries.

Key senior hires and promotions made at QueryClick as it aims to drive growth
Digital marketing consultancy QueryClick has made a series of strategic senior hires and promotions to bolster its future growth and expansion plans. Kristi Hoyle joins as head of account management from international performance marketing agency 4PS, while Haitham Fattah and Stuart Ferrie have been promoted to head of SEO and head of paid search, respectively. Leeanne Weatherston has also been promoted to head of HR, while Stephen McMenamin joins the firm, taking the newly-created role of talent acquisition specialist.

Based in QueryClick’s London office, Hoyle brings a wealth of experience to the role, which will see her responsible for managing a client portfolio of over £2m, leading and growing a team of multi-disciplinary digital marketing specialists, and driving commercial vision for a large client base of leading brands. She most recently acted as business director at 4PS, and was also served as an SEO expert at iProspect.

Fattah previously held the position of technical SEO lead and grew a team of highly-skilled SEO experts over a five-year period, helping to manage over £1bn of client revenues and deliver an additional £395m in organic revenues for QueryClick’s client base last year. Ferrie, who has played a pivotal role in growing the consultancy’s PPC offering over the past seven years, helped the firm optimise £16.7m of PPC spend in 2017, delivering an average ROI of 12.7:1 for generic growth.

“We have made great progress with the early phases of our growth strategy, which is focused on the re-organisation and strengthening of our management team,” said Chris Liversidge, founder and CEO of QueryClick. “Stuart, Haitham and Leeanne have made themselves invaluable to the business and have continuously shown true commitment and dedication. The addition of Kristi and Stephen is a huge boost to the team, bringing vast commercial and industry experience to their new roles. I am confident that they will both help to build on our existing reputation and expand our footprint in the UK, and internationally.”

Ivan Braiker named chief strategy officer at My6sense
Mobile marketing pioneer Ivan Braiker has been announced as the new chief strategy officer at white label programmatic native ad platform My6sense. Braiker served as the CEO of mobile marketing firm Hipcricket from 2004 to its successful sale to Augme Technologies in 2014, and during his tenure helped secure brands including Ford, Macy’s, Kellogg’s, NBC, Fox and others.

He joins My6sense as its first chief strategy officer, as the firm aims to meet the growth in mobile content engagement using its enhanced AI technology. With over 25 years of experience in mobile and media marketing, he will help the company better manage the significant growth its has seen in recent years in both Europe and the Americas.

“With new clients coming on board driven by My6sense’s proprietary AI technology, it’s an exciting time for me to be joining Avinoam [Rubinstain, CEO and founder of My6sense] and his team as they scale their native, programmatic offering to support a growing list of supply and demand-side partners utilising a range of ad units and solutions.”

DNA adds Christine Wise as chief strategy officer
Seattle-based independent agency DNA has brought Christine Wise, formerly of the recently-closed Wexley School for Girls agency, on board as its new chief strategy officer. Wise will oversee the agency’s brand, communications and data strategy, working with numerous regional and local Seattle clients as well as larger brands including Amazon’s Twitch game live-streaming platform.

Wise worked at Wexley School for Girls for 10 years as a partner and member until the agency closed down in February this year. Prior to that, she worked at Publicis West on T-Mobile alongside Chris Witherspoon, DNA’s president and chief growth officer, and founded her own internet service CareGuide.

“DNA has a heritage of doing great brand work that gets to the heart of what a brand is about, but as they look toward the future they understand the need to evolve the way brand stories are told,” said Wise. “That’s the opportunity for me to have a real impact on bringing new thinking and structure – to move from counting clicks to counting heartbeats.”

Jennifer Roberti becomes Save the Children’s first-ever CMO
Save the Children has unveiled marketing veteran Jennifer Roberti as the non-profit organisation’s first-ever chief marketing officer. She will oversee marketing, communications, mass market fundraising and sponsorship for the global humanitarian organisation, and report directly to president and CEO Carolyn Miles.

Roberti has over 20 years of brand, marketing and communications experience across countries, cultures and channels. Most recently, she was the senior vice president of marketing and communications of UNICEF USA, focused on their integrated marketing and digital activities. Prior to her work with UNICEF, she held the role of executive for group marketing at Africa’s largest mobile operator MTN, and previously worked in the advertising sector for Y&R.

“I have tremendous respect for Save the Children and am excited to join such a world-class leader on children’s issues and rights,” said Roberti. “I’m honoured to be a part of a nearly 100-year-old movement for children, and look forward to helping bring more awareness and support to the work that we do in new and innovative ways.”