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.

Essence makes four EMEA leadership promotions
Ryan Storrar has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer, EMEA at GroupM’s data and measurement-driven agency Essence. Alongside that promotion, Clare Chapman has been named Executive Vice President, Head of Media; Anna Berry has become Senior Vice President, Head of Client Services; and Sherif Grundy elevated to Senior Vice President of Data Strategy.

Storrar will be responsible for business growth and further strengthening the network through innovative new processes and technology. He was previously SVP, Head of Activation, EMEA.

Chapman, who was previously SVP, Head of Media Planning, EMEA, will bring activation and planning closer together and expand the company’s best practices and products.

Berry will be responsible for continuing to increase client satisfaction and grow new business, while Guindy will focus on deepening the integration of Essence’s data and technology offering with all of Essence’s clients and teams.

“These promotions are much deserved recognition for the hard work and innovation these individuals and their teams continually bring to our clients and our business,” said Tim Irwin, CEO, EMEA at Esssence. “Over the past 15 months, Essence has experienced a period of exceptional growth, adding brands such as L’Oréal, Airbnb, Sainsbury’s, Argos, ITV and Zoopla to our roster – brands looking to drive genuine transformation within their businesses. These appointments will further the strong momentum we have as a business going into 2021 and underscore our commitment to creating the next generation of industry leaders by investing in training and promoting from within.”

UK leadership changes at Wavemaker
Media agency network Wavemaker has elevated Emma Slater to the role of UK Managing Director and Christiaan Lette to UK Chief Digital Officer.

Slater has been Managing Director of Wavemaker North since 2018. In total, she has been with the business for almost 25 years. During that time, she has worked with some of the UK leading brands, such as First Group, Jet2, Inspired Pet Nutrition (IPN), Morrisons, and Princes Foods.

“I’m delighted to be given the opportunity to lead the UK business,” said Slater. “Wavemaker’s Positive Provocation positioning and belief in the three speeds of growth really mark us as out as an agency that’s doing things differently. I think there’s a fabulous chance to cement Wavemaker as the growth agency for brand-owners and I’ll be doing everything I can to help make that happen.”

Lette joined the agency two years ago to spearhead the development of Wavemaker’s Precision offering and running several key clients in the agency. In his new role, he will lead excellence, innovation and set best practice across Wavemaker’s client portfolio.

“I’m thrilled to be able to accelerate Wavemaker as one of the leading digital businesses in the UK,” said Lette. “Our Precision offering is market-leading but we want to push further and challenge the status quo on what digital best practice means for our clients and, importantly, our people.”

IAS hires Sharma as CPO
Tom Sharma has joined Integral Ad Science (IAS), a digital ad verification company, as Chief Product Officer. Based in New York and reporting to CEO Lisa Utzschneider, he will accelerate IAS’s global product expansion.

Sharma brings more than 20 years of experience building digital media and advertising products to his role at IAS. Most recently, he was the Senior Vice President and Head of Product at Intersection, where he led product, user experience design, engineering and technical operations. Prior to that, Sharma founded Impact Digital Media. He has also held leadership roles at AOL, NBCUniversal, and Hulu.

“IAS is always looking ahead to design products that solve complex challenges for its customers, and I look forward to leading the product team as we build for the future,” said Sharma. “Developing products that improve media quality and make advertising more effective has always been a driving principle for me, and at IAS we will continue to push the envelope when it comes to product innovation, especially in CTV and programmatic.”

Paysen named Europe MD at Magnite
Magnite, an omnichannel sell-side advertising platform, has appointed Johannes Paysen as its Managing Director for Central Europe. He is tasked with managing the continued growth of the Central Europe region including Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, and other operating markets.

Paysen joins Magnite from GroundTruth, where he served as Head of Germany & MENA. Alongside his appointment, Stephen Wing has been promoted to Head of EMEA and James Brown to Head of International. Sylwia Sajewska and Anne-Cathrin Voltmer will lead the buyer and seller teams respectively for Central Europe, reporting into Paysen.

“It’s a really exciting time to be in the industry because we have to be constantly adapting and moving,” said Paysen. “I am thrilled to be joining the impressive Magnite team. Working alongside Stephen, James and the rest of the Central European team, I hope to uphold all of the great work they have accomplished in being at the global forefront of SSPs. We will strive towards ensuring that publishers can continue to sell advertising on their own terms across any channel or platform whilst maintaining transparency and effective collaboration.”

Lab’s Studio BLUP selects Lane as CMO
Laura Lane has been elevated to Chief Marketing Officer at Studio BLUP, part of the Lab Group agencies. She will be responsible for overseeing the marketing strategy across the agency, creating unique content and initiatives to stop the scroll, and will focus on formalising and launching Studio BLUPs in-house talent network.

Lane has spent just over a year and a half freelancing at the agency to help manage client projects for the likes of Nerf and Reebok whilst also running her own personalised gift and visual storytelling business My Icon Story. Prior to this, she worked for Wavemaker for over six years, moving her way up from graduate to Creative Lea, where she worked with clients including Netflix, EE, Paramount Pictures, Peroni, Evian, Nivea, B&Q, Comparethemarket, Johnson & Johnson, Ferrero, and TfL.

“This promotion could not have come at a more exciting time and I know Ill be able to make the greatest impact to Studio BLUP as a growing agency,” said Lane. “Although I am not a founder, I hand on heart see BLUP as my own business so being promoted to Chief Marketing Officer only reinforces the ambitious journey BLUP are on and I’m thrilled to be shaping the agency’s direction.

“To me, BLUP isn’t work. It’s a collaborative mission to disrupt and shape the future of the creative industries by providing meaningful opportunities to the young creative talent we support.”

Former Vodafone media head Evans joins Adgile as CEO
Paul Evans has taken up the role of Global Chief Executive Officer at TV data and effectiveness business Adgile Media. He joins to lead the company’s continued growth in Australia, and expansion into the key strategic markets of North America and Europe through a focus on product innovation, marketing, talent development and culture.

Evans, who served as a board advisor to Adgile over the last 12 months, has more than 20 years of experience in marketing and media. He has served in senior client-side leadership roles at Kimberly-Clark, Xbox, and Vodafone, as well as media agency roles in China and Dubai. As Global Head of Media at Vodafone, he led the company’s marketing operations strategy.

“I wanted to join and help build a truly innovative and game-changing business,” said Evans. “Adgile’s visual recognition technology is exactly that, bringing unique real-time visibility and control to fuel the future of TV data and effectiveness. It’s a true privilege to be part of the amazing Adgile team at this time of accelerated growth, as we deliver better TV measurement for a modern marketing era.”

Adverty looks to Nymberg to direct on business development
Johanna Nymberg has been hired as Director of Business Development at Adverty, an in-game advertising platform. She will be responsible for driving publisher revenue globally on the back of the launch of new offices across Europe and APAC.

Nymberg was most recently Senior Publisher Growth Manager at AdColony, working from both London and Singapore.

“Adverty’s formats are a great advantage to brands and publishers. As it is still a new ad monetisation format, this makes the role even more exciting,” said Nymberg. “Adverty is genuinely setting a new standard for generating revenue and I will be driving new game integrations and expanding the use of the platform via high-value deals and strategic, long-term partnerships, further establishing Adverty as the leading in-game advertising company.”

Brooks and Jans added to Future Platforms leadership
Future Platforms, which develops digital products to help customer management, has welcomed Remy Brooks as Head of Strategy and Greet Jans as Head of Experience.

Brooks has joined the agency to lead its strategy services and provide a wealth of experience from a decade of working across a diverse range of industries. In his most recent role at Mubaloo, Brooks helped grow the agency by refining its proposition and offering, and supporting the development of a team of product owners and strategists.

Jans will lead the UX & UI team. She was most recently Creative Director of Experience at Publicis Sapient.

Kubient turns to Roberts as Interim CEO
Paul Roberts has been appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer at Kubient, a cloud-based digital advertising software platform.

Roberts, who is Chairman, Founder, and Chief Strategy Officer of Kubient, succeeds Peter Bordes, who will remain at the company in his current capacity as Director.

“On behalf of the entire organisation, we thank Pete for his leadership during such a critical stage of Kubients growth,” said Roberts. “We are appreciative of the instrumental role he played as CEO and the many accomplishments we realised during his tenure. We look forward to benefiting from his continued guidance as a shareholder and member of the board.”

Menko to strategise for Born Social
Social media agency Born Social has appointed Will Menko to the role of Strategist.

Before joining Born Social, Meno worked as a Planner at Digital Natives, where he led on familiar brands like Dermalogica, L’Oreal, and Gü, as well as helping the agency to a series of new account wins including Breville, Crockpot, and Yankee Candles. Prior to this, he was a Senior Account Manager at Adam&EveDDB, where he helped Volkswagen to rebuild trust among consumers following the emissions scandal in 2016.

“I’m really happy to be joining Born Social at this point in my career,” said Menko. “They have a reputation for blending traditional marketing principles with progressive, social-first thinking. It’s not only personally exciting to be a part of that, but it’s also where I feel brands can now be most commercially and culturally impactful. Plus, they couldn’t be a more lovely, ambitious and talented group of people. I’m extremely excited to see what we can do next.” 

Never.no opts for Macey to direct on sales
Harry Macey has been named as Sales Director at Never.no, an audience engagement specialist. He has been tasked with fine-tuning market development strategy and working closely with the global sales team to lead outreach and all sales-based activities.

Macey arrives at Never.no from Grabyo, where he spent four years, progressing from Junior Sales manager to Head of Sales for EMEA.

“Im absolutely thrilled to be joining Never.no and help drive the growth of the business at a time where audience engagement and participation is crucial for broadcasters and rights owners to continue innovating their output,” said Macey. “I can’t wait to work with the team and support clients in taking ownership with new forms of real-time and live video production workflows in the cloud, and develop their offerings on social media, mobile and online video to meet a variety of goals.”

Three additions made to exec team at Oxford Road
Performance audio agency Oxford Road has welcomed Steven Abraham as President, Kraig Kitchin as Strategic Advisor, and Jennifer Laine to lead marketing and key strategic initiatives.

Prior to joining Oxford Road, Abraham was a Managing Director of OMD USA. He has served other posts as Managing Director EVP of MediaCom LA, Global Client Director at Mediacom Global, VP of Media and Advertising Universal Pictures International, and is currently a strategic business development advisor to Orfium.

Kitchin is a Co-founder of Premiere Radio Networks, which he led for 10 years to become the US’s largest radio network. He acts as Co-President of Big Shoes Productions and is Co-President of talent management firm Sound Mind. Kitchin is also Chairman of the National Radio Hall of Fame.

Laine has formally joined Oxford Road to oversee strategic marketing and business development having been an ally to the company previously.

“By partnering with these three individuals of stunning reputation and talent, our company has never been positioned to reach even greater heights.” said Oxford Road Founder and CEO, Dan Granger. “Oxford Road launched in 2013 and quickly became one of the fastest-growing companies in America. In the last few years, we have focused on building a world class infrastructure and deepening our competitive advantage. We are now poised to win our category by enabling our clients to win theirs.”