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.

Bauer Media hands Brookes CRO gig
Charlie Brookes has been appointed as Chief Revenue Officer of Digital Audio UK at Bauer Media Audio. He will deliver Bauer Media’s digital audio commercial growth strategy and report into Abby Carvosso, who was recently appointed Director of Commercial Transformation.

The appointment of Brookes follows the launch of Bauer Media Audio’s joint venture with News UK, Octave. The venture, led by Brookes, provides brands with the opportunity to target audio audiences powered by first-party data, in a brand safe environment. Brookes will continue to lead Octave alongside his new role.

“With advertisers becoming more sophisticated and data-led and our IP audiences growing rapidly, this is such an exciting time to explore digital audio advertising,” said Brookes. “Unlocking our strategy will be key to the future success of our business, so I’m delighted to take on this new challenge and role.”

Simo and McCarthy join Instacart board
Online grocery platform Instacart has added Fidji Simo and Barry McCarthy to its Board of Directors.

Simo is currently the Head of Facebook App, where she leads the development and strategy for the Facebook App, including news feed, stories, groups, video, marketplace, gaming, news, fating, ads, and more. Before Facebook, where she has been since 2011, Simo worked as part of the strategy team at eBay. She also co-founded Women in Product, a non-profit to help women reach leadership positions in product management.

“I am proud to be joining Apoorva [Mehta] and the rest of Instacarts Board of Directors. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a new normal for all of us, and it has put a spotlight on the role that services like Instacart can play in making peoples lives easier, and creating economic opportunity for many,” said Simo. “Instacarts services have been a lifeline for my family and many others during the pandemic, and I see it as an essential service going forward. I look forward to joining the Board and helping guide the talented Instacart team as they continue to scale and create more products and services that people love.”

McCarthy was previously Chief Financial Officer at Spotify from 2015 to January 2020 and Global Head of its advertising businesses from September 2016 to January 2020. Prior to Spotify, he was a prior investor and member of the Board of Directors of several private companies. From 1999 to 2010, he was Chief Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer at Netflix.

“Im excited to be joining Instacarts Board of Directors. Ive gotten to know Apoorva and the management team over the last year, and have been impressed by how theyve successfully navigated the company through a time of unprecedented growth, while also meeting the needs of their customers, shoppers, and retail partners,” said McCarthy. “Grocery ecommerce in North America is at a tipping point, and I believe Instacart is well positioned to continue to lead in the space as consumer adoption increases over the coming years.”

Microsoft selects Yang as China boss
HOU Yang has been named as Chairman & Chief Executive Officer for the Greater China Region (GCR) at Microsoft. He will succeed Alain Crozier and lead the company’s Global Sales, Marketing and Operations organisation in the GCR.

Yang joins Microsoft from Qualcomm, where he served eight years in both the US and China, most recently as Senior Vice President of the Semiconductor business. He led a team which collaborated with telecom and mobile internet partners to migrate wireless technologies, deepened partnerships with Chinese corporations across industries, and drove technology innovation together with an array of ecosystem partners in China.

“HOU Yang is a proven transformational leader, bringing strong technology industry ecosystem partner development capabilities as well as local insight to enable customers,” said Ahmed Mazhari, President of Microsoft Asia. “He is an experienced business leader across operations, product optimization and sales with a track record in partner and customer engagement. He brings a balanced combination of strategic thinking and execution discipline, that delivered outsized growth. We are incredibly fortunate to have a strong leader, like him, at the helm in Greater China to navigate our future and unlock the growth opportunities available to us.”

Meshkinyar appointed as product VP at Uberall
Uberall, a location marketing solution, has hired Kimia Meshkinyar as its Vice President of Global Product & Revenue Marketing. She will ensure that Uberall’s solutions consistently deliver value to its customers and help the company to serve its customers when and where they need it.

Meshkinyar brings over thirteen years of international marketing experience in product marketing, market analysis, segmentation, and developing go-to-market strategies for technology solutions and services to the role. Prior to joining Uberall, she most recently served as VP of Global Product Marketing at Acrolinx. She has also worked for Evalueserve and Elsevier.

“I am delighted to be joining the Uberall team and look forward to helping brands and businesses realise the benefits of providing an outstanding ‘Near Me’ Brand Experience in new and innovative ways,” said Meshkinyar. “Uberall’s truly ‘service-oriented approach’ not only creates value for their customers, it adds to its wonderful culture and makes it even more motivating to join the team.”

Bango hires Garner as CFO
Matthew Garner has become Chief Financial Officer and joined the Board of Directors at mobile commerce company Bango. He replaces Carolyn Rand, who will remain at Bango as a Consultant.

Garner, who is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, joins Bango from Global Invacom, where he held the role of CFO for seven years. During his time at Global Invacom, Garner oversaw the successful IPO of the business on AIM and the continuing listing on the mainboard in Singapore. He also drove the acquisition and integration of five companies.

“I am thrilled to join the talented team at Bango, at a time when so many growth opportunities lie ahead,” Garner Commented. “The Bango virtuous circle strategy, where payment volumes drive payment insights – and vice versa – is compelling and the Bango vision of becoming the technology behind every payment choice is irresistible.”

Rush and Best signed by Teads
Media platform Teads has recruited Clare Rush as Vice President of Agency Development and Dan Best as Industry Director FMCG in the UK.

Rush will be tasked with driving business growth and new revenue development for Teads. She joins after serving as a Consultant for the company for two years. She started her career at IPC magazines and worked for Gruner & Jahr and Nat magazines before moving to MEC (now Wavemaker). Prior to her Consultant work with Teads, Rush worked at DMGT as Chief Revenue Officer at the MailOnline.

“I’m excited to join a company which is growing and providing such outstanding service to its clients,” said Rush. “With my experience of working as Chief Revenue Officer at one of the biggest online publishers, I’m looking forward to building on the incredible success at Teads and being part of its future growth.”

Best will be responsible for expanding Teads’ relationships with FMCG clients in the UK. Before joining Teads, he was part of the Unruly executive team responsible for the most successful exit of a UK ad tech business to date for $176m to News Corp. Most recently, he was Head of Advertising EMEA for WildBrain Spark, the largest independent global kids and family media company.

“I’m thrilled to be joining Teads and have the opportunity to apply my expertise to boost its FMCG offering,” commented Best. “The company has been agile over the last twelve months and as a result grown its products and services. I’m looking forward to working with the entire team and being part of an organisation which is thriving.”

Teads has also made a number of promotions including Ryan Cook to Deputy Managing Director, with Melisa Jones taking over as Head of Marketing for the UK and Netherlands as Graham Alexander moves to Global Director of Communications and PR.

AdRoll announces Saxena as President
Roli Saxena has been named as President of martech company NextRoll’s AdRoll division. She will be focused on leveraging the company’s roots in data and machine learning to drive adoption of the AdRoll Ecommerce Marketing Platform by direct-to-consumer marketers.

Saxena was most recently Chief Customer Officer at Brex, where she was responsible for customer revenue and launching Brex banking products. Prior to that, she held a variety of leadership roles at LinkedIn and was also Co-Founder of LinkedIn Women’s Network program.

“Outside of the market opportunity, what really swayed my decision to join was the people I met during the interview process and the overall culture of inclusion across the entire NextRoll organization,” said Saxena. “As an introvert and woman of color, I have experienced environments where I did not fit in or felt I didn’t belong, so it was refreshing to see the focus of NextRoll on culture and inclusion. There are many companies who talk about D&I and I was impressed to see that NextRoll did more than talk about it but operationalized D&I in the fabric of the culture.”

Wedgbury takes up digital lead gig at H&S
Marketing agency Hearts & Science (H&S) UK has appointed Louis Wedgbury to the newly created role of Head of Digital. Reporting directly to MD Garrett O’Reilly, his remit includes driving the agency’s digital offering, working closely with H&S Chief Data Officer James Londal to spearhead new product developments as well as rolling out digital innovation solutions for existing clients.

Wedgbury joins from Forward PMX, where he led all strategic thinking and co-developed the consultancy offering as Head of Strategy. He has held senior positions at media and digital performance agencies, working across a client base that includes Nike, Chanel, Light Box, Ralph Lauren, HSBC, Virgin Holidays, and PVH.

“It’s a pivotal time in the evolution of the agency/client relationship and Hearts & Science offers a rare opportunity in the market for clients to realise their data and tech ambitions – a mission I’m completely aligned with,” said Wedgbury. “I’m looking forward to accelerating the agency’s digital offer, embedding best practice at every stage of the digital workflow and expanding the agency offering to provide a best in class digital department that exceeds client needs. The significant added bonus is being part of a future-facing team who appreciates not only the value of progressive working practices, but also the importance of a diverse and sustainable working culture.”

Stationhead recruits Armenia to direct on partnerships
Joe Armenia is joining social audio platform Stationhead as Director of Creator Partnerships. Reporting to COO Murray Levison, he will be responsible for recruiting some of today’s best creators and influencers to develop shows for the platform and create unique live experiences.

Armenia previously served as Director of Artist and Creator Relations at SoundCloud, where he developed SoundCloud’s first global team tasked with representing, supporting, and educating creator communities about content and marketing opportunities to connect with fans, monetise their work, and grow their audiences. Prior to that, he was Global Head of Content Partnerships and Editorial at Rdio (acquired by Pandora) and Vice President of Music Marketing at MTV.

“I have always had a passion for finding innovative ways for creators to connect with fans, and Stationhead uniquely offers that,” said Afmenia. “Stationhead has first to market advantage and has built the patented technology to revolutionize the traditional radio model into a truly social audio experience. I am excited to work with top creators as they connect with fans around the world on Stationhead.”

Astrowsky joins Consumer Acquisition as GM
Consumer Acquisition (CA), a social ad agency, has hired Evan Astrowsky as the General Manager of its Creative Studio division. He will leverage his more than 15 years of expertise in advertising and commercial production to drive CA’s Creative Studio.

Astrowsky has produced feature films, like Cabin Fever and Fanboys, and has overseen commercial and content production for brands at agencies including Ayzenberg, Petrol, and Contend. At Ayzenberg, he led the production team delivering thousands of pieces of content annually, including everything from multi-million-dollar budget broadcast spots to daily social media videos for brands, including Microsoft, Xbox, and Oculus.

“I am excited to bring my years of hands-on production experience to the Creative Studio. Expanding our global capabilities, helping to improve upon creative execution and ultimately delivering the best quality work for brands is something I look forward to leading,” said Astrowsky.

Organic promotes Scoggins to CEO
Ben Scoggins has been elevated to Chief Executive Officer at digital agency Organic. He will focus on the day-to-day running of Organic and overseeing a strategy to ensure the continued success of the agency.

Scoggins was originally hired as Commercial Director in spring 2018 and was promoted to Managing Director in autumn 2019.

“We have a fantastic team, some wonderful client partners and a raft of big and bold ideas for the future,” said Scoggins. “I’m thrilled to be leading the agency at a time where we’re driving growth and genuine innovation as a broader business.”