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.

LastMinute brings in Watt to lead commercial
Forward, lastminute.com’s media company, has hired Gellan Watt as chief commercial officer. He joins to focus on innovation, strategy and growth opportunities, including acquisitions.

Watt consulted with the lastminute.com team on the development and launch of its in-housing consultancy, Playbook.

He and his business partners grew and successfully exited the UK’s 12th largest independent agency business, Emerge Group, in 2016. Since then, he has been consulting with global brands on growth and brand strategy, including IM Group, working as a non-executive and investing in tech start-ups.

“Forward is uniquely placed to disrupt the marketing landscape with a broad range of offerings, new products and future acquisitions,” said Watt. “It’s a great team with a big vision and rare skill set – having built one of the UK’s best in-house media businesses. The push into consulting and innovation is seriously exciting. I’m glad to be on board and look forward to working with the team to drive rapid growth across the business.”

Burton becomes head of strategy at ID5
Joanna Burton has joined ID5, a centralised cross-domain ID synchronisation platform, as chief strategy officer. Reporting to CEO and co-founder Mathieu Roche, she will be tasked with creating a go-to-market strategy to drive revenue, strengthening partnerships with premium publishers, and accelerating the company’s international expansion.

Burton served as VP of European strategy at SpotX in her previous role. Here, she helped grow the business across Europe.

In her 25 years of experience, she has also worked at companies including Rubicon Project, Microsoft, AOL, Dailymotion, uSwitch.com, Blue Barracuda, Omniture (now Adobe), and AppNexus.

“I am passionate about advertising technology, working with smart people to find innovative approaches to industry problems,” said Burton. “ID5’s impressive growth across Europe is testament to the need for a workable identity solution to increase match rates, and thereby revenue, for media owners and ad tech platforms.  The timing is significant as the industry is under increasing pressure from a regulatory and competitive standpoint. In addition, the company has put together an extraordinary team including Morwenna Beales from Rubicon Project and Adam Rowley from Oracle, led by Mathieu Roche with whom I worked in the past.”

Burton, who will take up the position at ID5 on a part-time basis, has also become an adviser to independent video company JW Player and advertising software company Beeswax. She will also continue to invest in and mentor start-ups such as SBDS, RevConnect and Rail Repay.

Yoyo hires Oulds for commercial team
Payments and loyalty marketing platform Yoyo has appointed Marcus Oulds as its commercial VP. He has been briefed to oversee commercial operations, including sales, marketing and customer success.

Oulds, who has more than 12 years’ experience, was previously director of UK sales at GoCardless. Before that, he spent more then three years running SMB acquisition at Google as head of sales and operations in the UK. He was also an integral part of Groupon’s UK expansion.

“Yoyo has already shown that it is delivering on its mission to reimagine the payment experience, enable merchants to build strong customer relationships and measurably foster long-term sales growth,” said Oulds. “The opportunity to come on board and help continue to build on that success, during this exciting period of expansion for the company, was an opportunity I couldnt turn down.”

Lillington to direct on Fat Media strategy
Fat Media, a digital marketing agency, has hired David Lillington as their director of strategy and digital marketing, where he will work across the whole Fat Media Group of companies.

Lillington joins Fat Media with over 14 years’ strategic business development experience.  His previous role was the director of client partnerships at Microserve, where he helped shape the strategic direction of the agency.

“After hearing about Fat Media’s expansion and acquisition of agencies like Reading Room and market research companies like RONIN, I really wanted to be part of Fat Media’s expansion, and also play a role in shaping its future direction,” said Lillington.

 “It’s fantastic to now be part of the team at such an exciting period.  The group offers a highly compelling offer for the market, with so much expertise in under one roof and there’s a huge potential for growth in the coming years.”

SharpEnd hires Olaye to strengthen leadership team
Michael Olaye has taken up the role of chairman at ‘connected experience’ company SharpEnd. Working with founder and CEO Cameron Worth, he will help drive the agency forward on its next stage of growth and offer key strategic consultancy.

Olaye, who boasts more than 20 years of experience, was most recently CEO of Dare and CTO of Inside Ideas Group. Previously, he worked as head of technology and innovation at Havas, where he was responsible for creating Havas London’s digital team and leading Work Club’s technology team.

“Cameron and the SharpEnd team are proven pioneers in smart and connected solutions and are already doing a great job for established brands like Mattel, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Pernod Ricard globally, to exploit the many benefits of connected technologies to drive positive business, brand and consumer outcomes,” said Olaye. “As the ecosystem develops, the benefits these technologies present in helping brands understand purchase behaviours and build deeper, more relevant direct relationships with consumers will be invaluable. That’s a compelling proposition for me, and in my role as Chairman I look forward to helping guide Cameron and his team.”

Todd and Vinton join Paragon
Paragon Group, a customer communications, identification, and graphics services provider, has added former Proximity Creative Partners Andy Todd and John Vinton to its London team in order to strengthen the relaunched agency’s creative capabilities and augment its full-service design studio.

With over two decades of experience at many of London’s top integrated agencies, including Partners Andrews Aldridge and AIS London, the pair have worked across every market sector from automotive to utilities and in almost every channel.

In their new roles, they’ll report to the director of strategy and creativity Marc Michaels.

“We’re excited to be joining Paragon at such an interesting stage. We can’t wait to get stuck into a client list that includes the likes of Hyundai, St John Ambulance, The Royal Academy of Music and EDF Energy,” said Todd.

Vinton added: “There’s a real appetite to produce great work. And that’s what we still love doing. Coming up with big ideas and crafting them down to the smallest detail, online and offline.

“We’ve already commissioned graffiti for the Hyundai KONA launch, created a fast-opening fundraising pack for St John Ambulance that explains why speed saves lives and recorded Stuart Maconie reading poetry for The Ramblers.”

Giordano promoted at GMR
Experiential agency GMR Marketing has promoted Jessie Giordano to SVP of client consulting and services. She will oversee the operations of the San Francisco office and drive client development and strategic consulting initiatives within GMR.

Giordano has more than a decade of agency experience. Her current role, as senior director for global sports & entertainment consulting, sees her consult with Fortune 500 clients on global sponsorship and event strategy recommendations. She also plays an active leadership role in the agency’s work around major global events, including the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup and Super Bowl.

“During her 12-year tenure at GMR, Jessie has led some of the agency’s largest accounts, and her leadership has had a lasting impact on both clients and co-workers,” said Cameron Wagner, chief client officer at GMR Marketing. “She is a strategic thinker, strong manager, fierce competitor and collaborative team player; Jessie is the perfect leader for our San Francisco office.”

WorkMobile brings in new software tester
Divya Akshita has joined WorkMobile, a cloud-based data capture specialist, as a software tester. She will be responsible for providing quality assurance on the testing team to ensure the WorkMobile application is fit for purpose.

Akshita, who previously worked at Cybercom Software Systems in India, will play an important role in enhancing the data capture app to enable remote workers to capture all essential business data in the most efficient and cost-effective form.

“The team at WorkMobile are data capture specialists and Manchester is becoming well-renowned as an important global tech hub, so this role within the business is a great fit for my expertise,” said Akshita. “Everyone has been incredibly welcoming. I look forward to testing and developing the company’s software to ensure it remains cutting edge and delivers the best service to our customers.”

Tice arrives at Carwow to lead media partnerships
Carwow, a platform for buying new cars from local and national dealers, has hired Charlotte Tice as its first head of media partnerships. She will be tasked with consolidating and expanding the company’s relationships with media agencies and positioning the business as a leading producer of automotive content across all platforms.

Tice previously served as head of marketing & client service at Hearst Live. Prior to this, she spent 10 years at Mindshare UK, where she was head of digital & publishing, acting as a key factor behind the company’s creation of the combined digital display & publishing media investment team.

“Carwow puts consumers at the heart of everything it does and answers a genuine need,” said Tice. “Brands and agencies want transparency, just like customers, and Carwow stands out in offering that. I want to work with agencies to build great relationships and grow overall revenue as a result, to accelerate the extraordinary growth trajectory of the business.”

Pair appointed to strengthen sales at Tru Optik
OTT/CTV data management and measurement firm Tru Optik has hired Diane Rinaldo as VP of agency and marketer development and Melody Yazdanyar as senior director for channel development. The pair will report directly to Richard Kosinski, EVP of sales.

Rinaldo will lead the companys development efforts with agencies & marketers. She was most recently senior director at Triad, Walmart Media Group and before that VP of sales at Conversant.

Yazdanyar will lead the company’s channel development with programmatic partners including SSPs and DSPs. She was most recently senior director at Comcast’s Freewheel.

“Were delighted to welcome both Diane and Melody to Tru Optik,” said Kosinski. “Each brings a wealth of experience that their clients can use to accelerate success in OTT and connected television.”