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.

Microsoft turns to Young on business development
Christopher Young has been named as Executive Vice President of Business Development at Microsoft, reporting directly to Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella. He will be responsible for developing Microsofts global business development strategies that drive growth across the company.

Young most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of McAfee where, in 2017, he led the initiative to spin McAfee out of Intel as a standalone company. Previously, he held senior leadership positions at Cisco, VMware, RSA, and AOL.

“The pace of change in our world is accelerating, and technology-driven experiences that are more connected, interactive and intelligent are the drivers,” Young said. “It is great to be joining Microsoft, to help lead this transformation in the way we work and live.”

Parkes promoted to experience chief at Rapp
As part of a rebrand of its strategic consulting offer, Omnicom agency Rapp has handed Caroline Parkes the new role of Chief Experience Officer. She will lead a group of 41 experience strategists.

Parkes, who was previously Head of Strategic Consulting, will report to Global Chief Strategy Officer Shiona McDougall.

The rebrand has also seen Ashley Alleyne promoted from Social Media Strategist to Diversity Strategist; Ed Freed promoted to Chief Technology Officer, and Andy Rowe promoted to CMscO.

LiveXLive names Quartieri CFO
Michael Quartieri has been hired as Chief Financial Officer at LiveXLive, an audio, video, and podcast content platform. He replaces Jerry Gold, who shall continue in his current role as the company’s Chief Strategy Officer and a member of the company’s Board of Directors.

Quartieri spent the past five years as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Scientific Games, where he managed over $700m in acquisitions and, in 2019, he spearheaded the successful $324m IPO of the companys subsidiary, SciPlay Corp. Before that he spent nine years at Las Vegas Sands Corp., ending his tenure as Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Global Controller.

“After an extensive review of LiveXLive, its product offerings and current positioning within the livestream, on-demand audio, video and podcast sectors, I believe the critical pieces are in place to build the Company into a significant enterprise. I am particularly excited about working with the Companys highly accomplished and experienced management team,” said Quartieri.

Zheng added to Poly board
Communications company Poly has given Yael Zheng a seat on its Board of Directors. She will serve as member of the Board and its Strategy Committee.

Zheng is currently Chief Marketing Officer at Bill.com, where she leads marketing to drive awareness, demand, and growth. Before that, she built the marketing team from the ground up as a consultant for Medallia. At VMware, she led the corporate and worldwide marketing teams, where she oversaw key initiatives that supported the companys hyper growth to a post-IPO, multi-billion-dollar market leader of cloud software.

“Poly has a strong product portfolio, customer base and internal talent,” said Zheng. “As the future of work evolves, Poly faces an unprecedented opportunity to help impact the lives of people around the world with premium-grade technology that enables work from anywhere.  I look forward to joining the Board of Directors to help contribute to the companys success and drive shareholder value.”

Outreach chooses Mohan to lead on revenue excellence
Harish Mohan has been hired to the new role of Senior Vice President of Revenue Excellence and Operations at sales engagement platform Outreach.

Mohan has more than 20 years’ experience in revenue operations and business expansion. He was previously Vice President of Global Revenue Operations at Pendo.io and held several roles while working at NetSuite for 14 years.

“Outreach has quickly become a critical element in the go-to-market stack from startups to the worlds largest enterprises, delivering hyper scale in sales engagement and insights to power efficient growth,” said Mohan. “I am excited to help accelerate our journey in expanding our customers and revenue globally. And to tell the Outreach story and share our best practices to empower our customers to unlock the world class potential in their revenue operations.”

Brannan selected to direct business at Kids Industries
Kids Industries, a family-focused full-service marketing agency, has appointed Mary Brannan as Business Director, as part of the agency’s brand refresh.

Brannan has 15 years of experience with brands such as American Express, AB InBev, The Walt Disney Company, and Subway.

“Mary’s appointment, together with our refreshed website and an increase in the range of our services, puts us in a fantastic position to and continue our growth trajectory,” said Gary Pope, Co-founder and CEO of Kids Industries.

Waste appoints Rekab as lead strategist 
Michael Rekab has been hired as Lead Strategist at digital creative agency Waste. He will focus on the agency’s gaming and entertainment clients including Nintendo, Sega, and Supercell, helping gain a better understanding of brands’ fan communities and sub-tribes, and delivering compelling content and campaigns across the entire fan ecosystem.

Rekab joins from Irish strategy agency MCCP, where he was Senior Strategist specialising in brand and communications strategy and innovation. He has previously held positions at Publicis Dublin and Zenith Ireland.

“Digital has given us new and exciting ways to reach our audiences, but I believe it’s essential for brands to create work that connects with people on a human level, too. I can see that Christian [Perrins] and the team at Waste share this belief, which is why this is such a fantastic move for me. I’m excited to be joining at a time of real growth and innovation for the agency,” said Rekab.

Three additions made to Stash leadership
Personal finance app Stash has hired Chidi Achara as its Chief Creative Officer, Nasahn Sheppard as Vice President of Design & Research, and Caleb Callahan as Vice President of Fraud.

Achara will lead brand strategy and creative direction for Stashs in-house agency and studio. Most recently, he served as CCO for Simon Malls, where he directed the rebranding of 200-plus shopping destinations worldwide and helped launch its first eCommerce platform. Prior to Simon Malls, he served as VP of Creative at Cole Haan.

Nasahn will lead Stashs team of product designers and UX Researchers, with a focus on creating friction-free customer experiences. He arrives at Stash from Amazon, where he was Global Head of Customer Experience Design for Amazon Devices. Before that, he was first DVP of Product Design for REI Co-op.

Callahan will lead Stashs efforts to define – and execute – a fraud strategy that balances risk tolerance with a consumer-centric experience. Most recently, he served as VP of Fraud Operations and Strategy at Equifax, where he developed new approaches to identity verification to protect Equifaxs consumer business units across its various operating regions. Prior to Equifax, he developed fraud programs for Jet.com and Priceline.

“Im confident that Chidi, Nasahn, and Caleb – each a seasoned leader in their respective fields – will propel our growth and transformation as a company,” said Brandon Krieg, CEO and Co-founder of Stash.

Play2Pay adds Weisman to board
Tony Weisman has been onboarded as Investor and Board Member at payments platform Play2Pay (formerly known as Adfone). In his role, he will exercise his 30-plus years of marketing experience with world brands to steward Play2Pays continued growth while serving as the voice of its customers.

In his former role as CMO of Dunkin US, Weisman rebranded the 68-year-old company famously from Dunkin Donuts to Dunkin and fully transformed the brands digital marketing, including everything from menus to brand partnerships. He currently serves on the Board for the Mobile Marketing Association, Cardlytics, and 3Q.

“Walking in your customers shoes is a crucial part of understanding the growth potential and areas for expansion in any company, and thats something I look forward to doing for Play2Pay,” said Weisman. “The platform offers a unique way for advertisers to learn about consumer interests while offering an effective and low-cost channel for acquiring new customers. Im passionate about finding new and fresh ways to engage customers with brand messaging while becoming a part of the experience they enjoy instead of disrupting or changing them.”

Miah gets account director gig at TMWI
TMWI, a marketing agency, has appointed Kaled Miah as Senior Account Director.

Miah was most recently Client Partner for Honda across European markets at Dentsu Aegis, where he spent the last four years developing and optimising the automotive brand’s approach to SEO and content. He has also held the position of Head of SEO at Direct Line Group.

“This is an exciting time to be joining TMWI,” said Miah. “The agency’s independent, pioneering spirit enables us to get things done, fast, and I will be directing my energies into optimising all aspects of digital marketing; supercharging campaigns and supporting teams and clients.”

Alpha.One hires Nieuwenhuis to take charge of science
Ingrid Nieuwenhuis has joined neuro tech and machine learning ad firm Alpha.One. She is responsible for the product roadmap and science.

Nieuwenhuis most recently worked a Quantitative Researcher at Facebook’s R&D department. She has also worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of California, Berkeley and Neuroscience Director at Nielsen Consumer Neuroscience.

“I came into contact with Alpha.One through my work at Facebook. I started talking with Coen (Olde Olthof, co-founder of Alpha.One) about enabling the measurement of real effectiveness of advertisement in a more scalable way, inspired by neuroscience and AI. We were aligned almost instantly,” said Nieuwenhuis.

Dar appointed CPO at Cheq
Cheq, a marketing cybersecurity firm, has named Assaf Dar as its Chief Product Officer.

Dar joins Cheq after serving as CPO at Checkmarx, where he led the company’s product strategy, product management, and R&D. Prior to that, he was CPO at Perion’s Codefuel.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be joining Cheq, one of the most exciting and promising SaaS companies out there today. The application of cybersecurity to digital advertising is fascinating, and the company’s vision of becoming the immune system of digital media is truly compelling,” said Dar. “Cheq’s impressive growth in 2020 has attracted highly talented and experienced executives from the world’s leading SaaS companies, a fact which itself inspires great confidence in the future of this company.”