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.

Bezos steps down as Amazon CEO, replaced by Jassy
Amazon has announced that its Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Bezos, will step down after 27 years. He will become Executive Chairman and be replaced as CEO by Andy Jassy in the third quarter of this year.

“Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and it’s consuming. When you have a responsibility like that, it’s hard to put attention on anything else,” said Bezos in a letter to Amazon employees. “As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions. I’ve never had more energy, and this isn’t about retiring. I’m super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have.”

Jassy has been at Amazon since 1997 and founded Amazon Web Services (AWS), with a team of 57 people, in 2003. In 2016, he was promoted from Senior Vice President to CEO of AWS.

Reprise appoints Hawking as UK CEO
Chloe Hawking has been hired as UK & Ireland Chief Executive Officer for IPG Mediabrands’ performance media marketing agency, Reprise. She will join the agency in the coming months and report to Mediabrands UK & Ireland CEO Richard Morris, while also joining Reprise’s EMEA leadership team under EMEA President Jimmy Schougaard.

Hawking will arrive from PHD Global, where she held the role of Chief Digital Officer. In the past three years, she has been pivotal to PHD’s digital acceleration, working with clients including Volkswagen, Audi, HSBC, Bayer, Diageo, Porsche, and Hewlett Packard. Before PHD, she held a number of digital leadership roles across a number of media and digital agencies in the UK and Australia.

“I am thrilled to be joining Reprise and the wider Mediabrands group at such an exciting time. Reprise is perfectly positioned to help their clients grow through this era of digital disruption and eCommerce acceleration,” said Hawking. “Their breadth of capabilities across performance content, media and experience management are the keystone of a new age performance agency and one of the many reasons I am excited to join. I am looking forward to applying my experience in building innovative digital services, unified teams and growth solutions for clients in this new role. I can’t wait to work with the talented team across the UK and their impressive clients.”

Boone takes charge of HR at eBay
eBay has recruited Cornelius Boone as its Senior Vice President, Chief People Officer. He will be responsible for all aspects of human resources across the eCommerce company, driving business performance, talent development and acquisition, learning and development, compensation, benefits, HR shared services, and people tools and technologies.

Boone most recently oversaw the people functions for American Airlines Group, where he was responsible for expanding and improving the diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Before American Airlines, he was Vice President of Field Hourly Talent Management at Walmart.

“I am thrilled to join the eBay team,” said Boone. “eBay has one of the strongest, purpose-driven, cultures I’ve encountered and their desire and drive to create economic opportunity for all is truly an inspiration.”

Incubeta hires two to boost ad tech
Zoe Hall and Lauren Stearley have joined Incubeta, a digital marketing services group, as Managing Director of Adtech Solutions and Director of Programmatic respectively. Hall will drive technological innovation and advancement across the agency’s ad tech services, while Stearley will lead the expansion of Incubeta’s programmatic media offering including display, video, and connected TV.

Before joining Incubeta, Hall was instrumental in launching early-stage investment platform Antler, where she worked as Director of Marketing. Prior to this, she was Senior Expertise & Innovation Manager at Fifty-Five, where she expanded and led the analytics departments.

“I’m thrilled to be joining Incubeta and to have the opportunity to apply my expertise to boost the product development at Incubeta,” commented Hall. “The company has continued to grow and innovate during one of the most challenging times for businesses across the globe. I look forward to working with the entire team and being a part of an organization which is a pioneer in the integrated marketing space.”

Stearley arrives at Incubeta from Starcom, where she was Acquisition Marketing Lead. Here, she led on acquisition, while being responsible for developing and implementing strategy across search, social, and programmatic. Before Starcom, she held roles at MediaMath and Index Exchange.

“I’m excited to join a company which is growing so rapidly and providing such outstanding service to its clients,” Stearley added. “With my holistic understanding of the sell-side and buy-side, coupled with my knowledge of acquisition marketing, I’m looking forward to helping Incubeta take its programmatic offering to the next level.”

Sturgeon takes lead on brand and marketing ROI at Kantar
Insights and consulting firm Kantar has chosen Paul Sturgeon as its ROI Analytics Consulting Lead. Leading brand and marketing return on investment, he will support global and UK-based projects.

Sturgeon has 20 years’ experience in marketing analysis and consultancy and, until recently, led Mindshare UK’s data science team. Prior to that, he held senior roles at MediaCom and PwC. Sturgeon is also a member of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) Value of Media Committee.

“Paul is a fantastic addition to our team as we see increasing appetite among our clients for intelligent and focused guidance around ROI,” said Amy Cashman, CEO of the UK & Ireland Insights Division at Kantar. “Marketing budgets have been under pressure for some time, with COVID-19 accelerating that trend.  Now more than ever they need to make their investment go further, and be able to demonstrate to boards how vitally important their activity is for driving sustained brand growth.  Success will require a level of insight which can help them to pinpoint where they need to focus and build effective, creative campaigns that generate sales now, and create long-lasting consumer demand.”

Silverbean appoints Beeskow Blay to lead US expansion
Sarah Beeskow Blay has been named Vice President North America at Silverbean, an affiliate and partner marketing agency, as part of its expansion into the US. She will focus on building the agency’s business in the well-established US and Canadian market, as well as helping to hire the right talent and delivering an outstanding customer experience.

Beeskow Blay has extensive experience in the affiliate marketing sector having held previous leadership roles at Awin Global and ShareASale.

“I’m thrilled to be joining the stellar team at Silverbean. As global e-commerce continues to experience exponential growth, we’re seeing increased demand from brands in North American with a desire to expand their reach to new regions. I’m excited to be a part of the solution in providing these brands with an exceptional service option to further grow their marketing efforts,” said Beeskow Blay.

“Silverbean is in a class of its own with established footing and unparalleled reach across Europe and APAC to help brands achieve their partnership marketing goals.”

In addition to Beeskow Blay’s appointment, Louise James has been promoted from Head of Affiliate Marketing to Global Associate Director. She will work closely with Beeskow Blay and Silverbean Associate Director for Australia, Annabel Grey, to ensure clients have an integrated approach for their global strategy and implementation.

Clayton takes up solutions officer gig at Mindshare
WPP’s Mindshare USA has brought in Sean Clayton as Executive Director, Solutions Officer. He will be responsible for architecting new client solutions, integrating the best data, technology, and analytics products and capabilities across Mindshare, GroupM, and the wider WPP organisation.

Clayton brings more than 15 years of experience across data science, media, and consulting to this role. Most recently, he was the Co-founder of Myosin. Here, he led holistic data and targeting initiatives for a range of Fortune 500 brands across fintech, fitness, healthcare, retail, and eCommerce, as well as major distributors in the entertainment industry. Prior to that, he was Chief Strategy Officer and President of the Entertainment Division at SITO Mobile.

“Marketers cant ignore the rapid changes that our industry is going through, especially in the data and analytics space. There is just too much at stake,” said Clayton. “Im excited to join Mindshare because theyve shown that they will run towards the disruption, and push their clients and the industry to think ahead and work proactively.”

Born Social hires duo on back of management buyout
Hannah Wolff and Harry Fishwick have joined social media agency Born Social as Head of Social Media Management and Head of Creative respectively.

Wolff joins from Three UK, where she was lead creative in the social and PR team, while Fishwick arrives from his role as Video Marketing Manager at TUI. They join a team that includes Essi Nurminen and Kate Higham, who have been promoted to Head of Strategy and Head of Operations respectively, and Head of New Business and Marketing Ed Knights.

A management buyout has left Born Social’s six-strong leadership team with a 75 per cent share of the business. The company’s founders, Rob O’Donovan and Ben Gateley, will retain a 25 per cent stake but will no longer sit on the board.

“Since day one we’ve been a people-focused business and the creation of our Heads of team and internal leadership development programme allows us to continue along that path in a time where wellbeing and work satisfaction are being challenged by the ongoing pandemic” said Ben Tyson, CEO and Partner at Born Social “And this investment in building the next generation of leaders at Born Social is testament to the strength of our clients and teams. We now have an exceptional team in place to help drive the next phase of the business.”

Schmaier named President at Salesforce
Salesforce has selected David Schmaier as its President and Chief Product Officer. He will lead Salesforce’s global product team, strategy, and vision having joined the company through its acquisition of Vlocity.

Schmaier has over three decades of experience building cloud, CRM, and industry-specific vertical software companies as an executive, entrepreneur, board member, and investor.

“Salesforce is an incredible company,” said Schmaier. “I’ve been fortunate enough to experience this first-hand as a customer, a partner, and now a member of the team. I’ve been an admirer of Salesforce since the early days, and the things I admired then are still true now: we have the best products, we define the cloud and other technology shifts like mobile and AI, and we have a trailblazing leadership team, led by Marc [Benioff], whom I’ve known since early in my career.”

Colt turns to Voltolini on strategy
Mirko Voltolini has been named Vice President of Strategy and Innovation at telecoms firm Colt Technology Services. In the newly created role, he will seek to underpin the company’s product capabilities with innovation and the latest emerging technologies in order to ensure Colt remains an industry leader.

Voltolini was previously Head of Network On Demand at Colt – a role where he oversaw the development of the company’s on-demand platform and drove the development and delivery of its online digital customer experience offering. Voltolini also sits on the MEF board.

“I feel very privileged to be taking on this new role,” said Voltolini. “Seeing both Colt and the industry evolve and innovate has been something I have always been passionate about, and I feel this next period will be particularly exciting for our sector. The way Keri [Gilder] has structured our organisation primes us to be ready to assist enterprises as they prepare for their next wave of growth, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”  

Mistry joins Lab as CFO
Lab Group, a collection of digital marketing, technology, and creative services agencies, has appointed Amar Mistry as Group Chief Financial Officer. Reporting to CEO Jonny Tooze, he will be responsible for ensuring the business has good financial reporting and governance, assessing the financing needs of the business and looking at investment to support the growth plans and developing a new phase of the group’s agency acquisition strategy.

Mistry arrives from Myriad Global, where he supported the business globally with its continued growth, helped to secure new funding and assisted with the expansion of the executive team throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. He has previously held positions at Vida Care, E2V, Brash Brands, and Konica Minolta.

“It’s safe to say that I am thrilled to be joining the business at such an exciting time,” said Mistry. “During a period where it would be easy to narrow focus and just survive it is inspiring to see a business with such intention and ambition. I have been really impressed with how the team have maintained humour and goodwill during challenging times, it really is a testament to the strength of the team. I very much look forward to bringing my expertise in financial management, financing and inorganic growth to the team.”

Glassbox names Zaheer CMO
Asim Zaheer has been hired as Chief Marketing Officer at Glassbox, a digital experience analytics provider. He will be responsible for expanding Glassbox’s commercial reach, penetrating new market verticals with the aim of doubling digital market share while also implementing a new brand and marketing strategy for the company.

Zaheer joins the company from Hitachi, where he served as CMO, helping to lead a multibillion-dollar portfolio of data infrastructure, analytics, cloud, and IoT solutions for Hitachi Vantara and Hitachi Data Systems. Before that, he held marketing leadership positions at companies including Archivas and Storability.

“I am thrilled to be joining a high-growth company that sits at the forefront of consumer experience innovations,” said Zaheer. “Glassbox is packed with talented individuals who are fundamentally changing how companies approach and interact with their customers, paving the way for a truly seamless customer experience. I cannot wait to contribute towards their mission and cement Glassbox’s position as leaders in a constantly evolving market.”

Ducker recruited to bolster Journey Further’s creative
Journey Further, a performance marketing agency, has hired Ben Ducker as its Executive Creative Director. He will provide a deep understanding of the traditional creative agency approach to brand advertising and combine it with existing data capabilities to create a performance-led and highly measurable approach to brand marketing.

Ducker has previously worked for VCCP and Fold7, as well as running his own production company, where he wrote and shot campaigns for brands including Carlsberg, O2, Diageo, Microsoft, EasyJet, and more.

“The industry and world is changing quickly, so I was looking to join a fast moving company that can keep up with the pace. The rebellious yet transparent mindset of Matt [Kwiecinski] and Robin [Skidmore] is what attracted me to joining the team, and I can see no better environment in which to create the future of advertising, where data meets creative for true engagement,” said Ducker.

“It’s refreshing to be calling out the ways of the past and exciting to develop a creative agency model that’s able to deliver on imagination and insight equally.”

Octopus recruits trio of advisors
Jack Randall, Dan Thomas, and Dave Kupiec have all been enlisted as Senior Advisors at Octopus Interactive, which provides a network of interactive screens inside Uber and lyft vehicles. The new recruits will be responsible for developing marketing partnerships with top brands to run on Octopus Interactive’s network of over 15,000 screens in rideshare vehicles generating over 60m monthly impressions of saleable inventory.

Randall spent 20 years at Univision, most recently as EVP of Business Development, before acting as Chief Commercial Officer at CivicScience.

Thomas joins Octopus from Active Media, where he was SVP of Strategic Development after senior leadership stints at NCM, Univision, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Kupiec is engaging with Octopus as part of his new consultancy venture, KPI Media Partners, after more than 30 years in media sales and publishing, featuring leadership roles at NCM, Wenner Media, and Conde Nast.

“As the economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, people are going out again and rideshare is seeing a strong rebound,” said Cherian Thomas, CEO of Octopus Interactive. “There is light at the end of this tunnel with the prospect of widespread vaccination, and we brought these three industry leaders on board because they have the established expertise and track record to turbocharge our business development in the coming months.”

Tober shifts role at Searchmetrics
Digital marketing analytics provider Searchmetrics has announced that its Founder, Marcus Tober, has taken up a new position as Founder and Chief Evangelist at the company.

Tober, who founded Searchmetrics in 2005, will lead Searchmetrics’ external push to explain the value that SEO can deliver and how it needs to develop in the future. Internally, he will play a cross-departmental strategic role advocating for the needs of SEO.

“When I founded Searchmetrics in 2005, things looked very different but, at the same time, I still feel that SEO has quite a long way to go,” said Tober. “Comparing the effort that businesses put into other digital marketing channels with what they commit to SEO, there’s still a large disparity. For example, companies spend multi-millions on paid search but barely consider SEO. I’ve long been an advocate for SEO, of course, but I see now an opportunity to really increase its’ importance and for Searchmetrics to lead the charge to grow the discipline.”

Alfonica opts for Fawcett to direct on sales
Scott Fawcett has been appointed Sales Director at Rose Communications Group’s B2B telecoms arm, Alfonica. He will work closely with Alfonica’s Mobile, Voice and Data teams and be responsible for the strategic leadership of the sales function within the business, while contributing to overall growth strategy.

Fawcett has 20 years of experience in the B2B telecoms market. He started his career at Genesis Communications and has since held a variety of sales leadership roles at FLR Spectron, Annodata, and IP Solutions.

“I am really excited to be joining the leadership team at Alfonica, opportunities like this don’t come along that often. Alfonica, part of the Rose Communications Group, has already proven itself as one of the most innovative and respected companies in the telecoms sector,” commented Fawcett. “I am looking forward to helping develop the business and its B2B propositions that will benefit our customers in these difficult economic times. My aim is to realise the potential of this fast-growing company, with its incredible reputation for customer service and technical capability, to help us engage new audiences and demonstrate the critical role of effective business communications and collaboration tools to help our clients deliver a greater overall end customer experience.”