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.

Global sets up outdoor division
On the back of its acquisitions of Exterion Media, Primesight, and Outdoor Plus, radio company Global has created an outdoor division and made appointments in key executive positions within the division.

Leon Taviansky, formerly CEO Exterion Media, has been appointed CEO of outdoor. Whilst Jonathan Lewis, previously Outdoor Plus CEO has been named as executive director of outdoor. Both Taviansky and Lewis will report to Stephen Miron, Global’s Group CEO and will be tasked with bringing together Exterion Media, Primesight, and Outdoor Plus.

Jason Cotterrell, formerly chief strategy officer & managing director at Exterion Media UK, has been appointed COO of outdoor, and will report to Taviansky. 

“I am hugely excited to be leading the outdoor division of Global,” said Taviansky. “I have always had the highest regard for Global and their success in creating a world class radio business, and look forward to this unique opportunity to create a world class outdoor business as well.”

Global has also brought the outdoor commercial team under the umbrella of the existing commercial team, overseen by CCO Mike Gordon. The outdoor commercial team will be led by Nigel Clarkson, formerly Exterion Media’s CRO, in the role of commercial director for outdoor.

Naren Patel will step down as CEO of Primesight but will continue to consult for Global’s outdoor division. Meanwhile, Primesight’s managing director, Matt Teeman, will leave the company.

The outdoor division is expected to launch in autumn.

Assalino joins Zappar
Zappar, a developer of augmented reality (AR) experiences and creative tools, has hired Andre Assalino as its executive creative director. Joining the London team, he will be responsible for leading Zappar’s creative consultancy and the AR campaigns they deliver across the world.

Assalino joins from Moving Picture Company (MPC, where he was responsible for concepting and delivering solutions across digital, mobile, VR/AR, experiential and social landscapes. Prior to working at MPC, Andre was creative technology director at VCCP and held senior creative technology roles at Karmarama, Publicis Chemistry and Isobar.

“Augmented reality is a hugely exciting space and Zappar’s creative work to date has been outstanding and is definitely a draw in my joining the company,” said Assalino. “I look forward to working with the team to create more successful campaigns for our partners and growing the company exponentially in the coming years.”

Xaxis recruits Vizzotto to head EMEA sales
Filippo Vizzotto has joined Xaxis, GroupM’s programmatic media and technology platform, as EMEA sales director. Reporting to EMEA president John Witeesaele, priorities for Vizzotto include building relationships with clients and agencies on a regional and global scale to address the challenges brands face when planning digital media investments.

Vizzotto, who will also act as an EMEA ambassador for new products and innovation, joins the Xaxis EMEA management team from Shazam, where he oversaw advertising across 11 European countries through a mix of local resellers, direct reports, and personal sales activity.

“I’m looking forward to working for an established powerhouse within the advertising technology community,” said Vizzotto. “The combination of cutting-edge AI-led technology and global talent places Xaxis at the heart of innovation within a constantly evolving industry such as digital advertising.”

Dynamic Yield brings in sales and solutions execs
AI-powered personalisation platform Dynamic Yield, which will soon become a subsidiary of McDonald’s, has appointed Mark van den Haak as VP of sales for Asia Pacific. He will be responsible for leading Dynamic Yield’s business in APAC and overseeing sales, operations, and partnership development in the region.

Prior to joining Dynamic Yield, Van den Haak was ASEAN sales director for Oracle Marketing Cloud, where he worked with marketers across APAC to unlock the value of their first, second, and third-party data in order to orchestrate a better customer experience across email, mobile, web, and paid media.

“It is a very exciting time to join Dynamic Yield – we are the leading personalisation engine in the space and drive millions of dollars of revenue for more than 300 brands globally, including many top players in eCommerce,” said Van den Haak. “Personalisation and CX is often the best way to gain a competitive advantage and marketers know it.”

The company has also hired Charlie Loo as senior solutions engineer in APAC. He will work very closely with Van den Haak and his sales team to scale the company’s local and regional footprints in APAC.

Loo joins from Oracle Marketing Cloud, where he was most recently a master principal sales consultant supporting the APAC marketing cloud business. He brings with him 16 years of experience in the marketing technology space, having served brands in Asia such as Visa, Cisco, Singtel, Changi Airport Group, Carousell, and Zalora.

“I am thrilled to be part of Dynamic Yield and to be given the opportunity to work with a team of highly-driven professionals who are incredibly passionate about personalisation and experienced in driving results through customer-centricity,” said Loo. “I look forward to making a contribution to the success of the business in APAC.”

Joynson-Hewlett chosen to lead Pocketmath
Joanne Joynson-Hewlett has been promoted to CEO of mobile advertising company Pocketmath. She previously had the role of CFO, where she managed capital investment, internal finance, and other duties.

Joynson-Hewlett, who joined Pocketmath as CFO in 2014, has 15 years’ experience in managing and optimising companies’ abilities to balance profits and growth within the advertising and technology sectors. Prior to joining Pocketmath, she was CFO for Sequoia-backed voice blog start-up Bubbly.

“I am honoured and excited to move into the role of CEO at Pocketmath,” said Joynson-Hewlett. It is a time of unprecedented growth and opportunity for Pocketmath, especially considering Southeast Asia’s crucial role in the future of mobile advertising, and I look forward to leading the company and our dedicated team members to new heights into 2019 and beyond.”

Nuno Jonet has also been promoted to CPO from his role as head of product, while Andrew Alcock has become the company’s CTO.

NCS names Dupree as CEO
Nielsen Catalina Solutions (NCS), which aims to improve advertising effectiveness for the CPG ecosystem, has appointed Linda Dupree as its CEO. She will report to the NCS board of directors.

Most recently, Dupree was SVP of client solutions for Nielsen, where she managed relationships across the largest US media companies. She was instrumental in developing early predictive modelling and CRM applications to build an advanced audience platform.

“NCS has made major advancements towards unlocking the potential of single source data for CPG advertisers. The pace of innovation has been incredible, leading up to this pivotal point in the trajectory of the company,” Dupree said. “In constant pursuit of more effective advertising for all media, NCS will continue to raise the bar higher, supported by several new solutions that will be introduced to the market this year.”

Nevill-Spencer joins Live & Breathe to direct on strategy
Shopper marketing specialist Live & Breathe has partnered with the Virtual Influencer Agency (VIA) and brought onboard Dudley Nevill-Spencer, founder of the VIA, as strategy & innovation director.

At Live & Breathe, Nevill-Spencer will be tasked with looking at how ‘traditional’ retail categories and brands can take advantage of the latest machine learning data tools, innovation tech, social media, and influencer techniques. He will report to Live & Breathe’s managing director, Nick Gray.

He has conducted strategy and innovation campaigns for some of the world’s largest alcohol, automotive, FMCG, hospitality, lifestyle, luxury, technology and utilities companies including Amazon, British Gas, Diageo, The European Union, Estee Lauder, Grey Goose, Honda, Nike, Porsche and Swatch.

“I’m thrilled about the partnership with Live & Breathe. It has the vision to understand the role that virtual influencers will play in the future of marketing, as well as the detailed processes and skills to ensure consistent and creative delivery of content and campaigns,” said Nevill-Spencer.

“My focus has always been on understanding how technology and culture change the behaviour of consumers. It’s why I got into influencer marketing way back in 2006, as it was clear that influential individuals were going to grow through social and become legitimate media channels. Virtual influencers are the next – and I believe more powerful – step in this evolution.

“Live & Breathe has a great roster of FMCG and retail clients and it’s exciting to be working with these forward-thinking brands on future-proofing strategies.”

Colt hires Halsey for human resources
Melanie Halsey has joined telecoms firm Colt Technology Services as EVP of human resources. Reporting to Colt CEO Carl Grivner, she will be responsible for driving Colt’s people strategy across its global organisation, overseeing the attraction, retention and development of talent.

Halsey has 20 years of experience in HR and joins Colt from Eight Roads, the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity International Limited. She was head of HR for Eight Roads for six years and was responsible for building a highly regarded global HR function supporting both the core business and its growing portfolio of investments.

Prior to working at Eight Roads, she was head of HR for UK financial services at Fidelity International.

“I am very excited to be joining Colt, particularly because it’s a business with collaboration at its core,” said Halsey. “The organisation already has a strong people agenda, but I am looking forward to working with Carl and team to ensure Colt continues to attract and retain the best the industry has to offer.”

DiGuido becomes president of N6A
North 6^th Agency (N6A), a brand communications agency, has appointed Al DiGuido as president and CRO. He will oversee sales and revenue functions, as well as M&A and capital initiatives to support N6As vision and growth strategy.

DiGuido will also work alongside CEO Matt Rizzetta and the N6A leadership team to introduce a new model that will transform the public relations category by aligning with specific business outcomes of CMOs, CEOs and brand marketers.

DiGuido was previously CEO of Bigfoot Interactive, which he sold to Alliance Data’s Epsilon business for $120m and became CEO of Epsilon Interactive in 2005. Last month, Epsilon was acquired by Publicis Groupe for $4.4bn. Following his tenure at Epsilon, DiGuido became CEO of Zeta Interactive.

“I have yet to meet an agency that can rival N6As track record of client results, innovation and outcome-oriented culture,” said DiGuido. “There is a tremendous opportunity to transform the legacy public relations category with a laser focus on being accountable for the specific business outcomes that CMOs, CEOs and brand marketers demand today. I believe N6A is perfectly positioned to lead this transformation.”