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.

eBay adds Thompson and promotes Rawashdeh
Pete Thompson has joined eBay as senior vice president and chief product officer, while Mazen Rawashdeh has been appointed as senior vice president and chief technology officer. Both will report to president and CEO Devin Wenig.

Johnson joins eBay from Amazon, where he served as vice president of Alexa Voice Service. Prior to that, he was chief operating officer of TiVo, where he drove the merger and integration of Rovi and TiVo. His over 20-year career has also seen him hold executive roles at Microsoft, T-Mobile, Ericsson, and Sonos.

Rawashdeh spent eight years at eBay between 2003 and 2011 before leaving to serve as vice president of infrastructure operation engineering at Twitter, where he helped scale the business through its IPO. He spent four years as an angel investor and tech advisor and then returned to eBay in 2016 to lead platform engineering, which he will continue to lead in his new role.

The company has also hired Scott Gaffney as vice president of search engineering from his role as vice president of engineering, web search & intelligent agents at Yahoo. In addition, Steve Metz has re-joined eBay as vice president of product analytics from Amazon.

Juhl named GroupM CEO
GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, has announced that Christian Juhl will replace Kelly Clark as global chief executive officer. Starting on 1 October, Juhl will be responsible for the vision, strategy, and operation of WPP’ media-focused companies.

Juhl is currently global chief executive officer at Essence, where he led the company’s acquisition by WPP in 2015. Before that, he held roles at Publicis, Razorfish, and USWeb/CKS.

“I’m truly honoured and grateful for this opportunity to help deliver on Mark [Read]’s vision for WPP as a creative transformation company,” said Juhl. “Media frames the future for creativity, and GroupMs incredible agency brands, talent, client partnerships, and scale give us the unique opportunity to help reshape the industry and the way people think about advertising.”

Twitter brings in Kim to lead business marketing
Gap Kim has been hired as head of global business marketing at Twitter. Reporting to vice president of marketing Brad Ramsey, he will lead the team which is responsible for marketing and messaging that helps brands understand the social media firm’s advertising solutions.

Kim has previously worked on digital adoption and growth across mobile, video, search, messaging, and social at companies including WhatsApp, Facebook, and Google.

“There’s no platform more embedded in every day culture and what’s happening than Twitter, and in this day and age, that is a critical opportunity for marketers to make meaningful connections with influential audiences to grow their business and brand,” said Kim.

“I’m thrilled to join the Twitter team and find new ways to bring Twitter’s value to life for all businesses, big and small, across the world.”

Trio handed new roles at MediaCom
MediaCom has promoted Nick Lawson, Josh Krichefski, and Kate Rowlinson in changes to their Worldwide, EMEA, and UK leadership teams.

Lawson, currently EMEA chief executive officer (CEO) and global client practice lead, succeeds Toby Jenner as worldwide chief operating officer. The 28-year MediaCom stalwart will be responsible for driving the network’s business development, marketing and product offers, while retaining his position as global client practice lead.

Krichefski, who has been at MediaCom since 2011, replaces Lawson as EMEA CEO after serving three years as UK CEO. He takes responsibility for 4,400 people across 37 offices. Rowlinson, the current managing director of worldwide hubs, will take over as UK CEO.

All three will begin their new roles in September.

“Nick, Josh and Kate’s track records in delivering truly innovative work are unparalleled and I am in no doubt they are the best people to lead the MediaCom network into its next exciting chapter,” said Stephen Allan, worldwide chairman and CEO. “They will bring forward thinking and rich expertise to our clients, helping them achieve their growth agendas, and perfectly exemplify our People First, Better Results belief. Their continued personal growth has and will continue to deliver the best possible results for the brands we work with.”

Rakuten promotes Capano to MD
Anthony Capano has been appointed to the newly created position of international managing director at Rakuten Marketing. He will now cover all territories outside of the US and Japan, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.

As former managing director of APAC, Capano launched Rakuten Marketing to the Australian market and across the greater region. In early 2018, he was promoted to managing director of EMEA and has since spearheaded operations and overseen expansion in France and Germany.

“The momentum we’ve built internationally over the past few years has put the business in a fantastic position to begin tailoring and deploying our technology in new and exciting markets,” said Capano. “By providing the network and support brands need, we’re going to be able to offer clients countless opportunities to grow internationally.”

Weiss to lead creative at DDB, hires Nolan
Marketing communications network DDB Worldwide has promoted Ari Weiss to the role of chief creative officer, expanding his remit to include creative responsibilities. His first hire in the new role has seen Britt Nolan named as his successor in the role of chief creative officer for DDB North America.

Weiss joined DDB in 2016 and has since helped the company’s North America division to 38 Lions at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

Nolan arrives at DDB from Leo Burnett, where he spent 10 years, most recently as co-president and chief creative officer of the Chicago office. Here, he oversaw work that won more than 50 Lions and many more across international shows, including the Effies, the One Show, and the Clios.

“Jealousy is a powerful motivator in the creative community, and Britt Nolan has been making me jealous for many, many years,” said Weiss. “Im confident not only in his ability to keep raising the bar higher in North America, but also in his ability to partner with me and our leaders across the region to continue finding the best ways to provide our clients best-in-class creative output.”

Firefly expands measurement and analytics team
Taylan Yildiz and Michael Steinberg have joined Firefly, a rideshare advertising startup, as chief analytics officer and vice president of media and analytics respectively.

Yildiz, a 10-year Google veteran, will spearhead measurement and attribution product development. While at Google, he built novel measurement methodologies and led efforts to build custom and scalable research solutions on media planning, measurement, and customer insights with top global advertisers.

Steinberg has 24 years of sales, marketing, and business development experience in the New York City market. He previously headed sales at Mira and Clear Channel Spectacolor, the Times Square division of Clear Channel Outdoor.

“Measurement stands as the most desired attribute of out-of-home (OOH) advertisements, but measuring the effectiveness of a campaign has remained a challenge across the industry,” said Firefly CEO and co-founder Kaan Gunay. “At Firefly, we’re doubling down on our commitment to defy the drawbacks of traditional OOH channels, and I can’t think of two better people to lead our efforts.”