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.

Conner appointed managing partner at Havas Media
Havas Media has appointed Amanda Conner as managing partner. The hire follows a record-breaking year for Havas Media Group, which saw it pick up over £94m in new business.

Conner joins from Wavemaker, where she spent just over two years as a client director, leading its Vodafone, Purplebricks and William Hill relationships. During this time, she played a pivotal role in guiding Vodafone as it navigated its digital in-housing programme, as well as overseeing the launch and rapid growth of the telecoms brand’s youth offering Voxi. She also led its activation of the highly competitive launch of 5G services.

Beginning her career at EHS Brann in 1999, Conner has previously held media planning and client service roles at agencies including MediaCom, PHD Media and Maxus. She has a track record of driving business success through performance channels, with a particular focus on service brands.

In her new role, she will lead Havas Media’s Legal & General and Homebase accounts, which were both picked up by the agency in 2019, as well as Mitchells & Butlers, TV Licensing and Swarovski. She will report to Ailsa Buckley, deputy managing director, Havas Media Group.

Conner said: “Havas Media Group has experienced phenomenal success over the last year, and having worked with some of their senior people before, that isn’t a surprise to me. We share an understanding of the power of a high performing team and a drive to make our clients succeed. I’m very excited to become part of the group’s continued success and look forward to making an impact across a range of client business.”

Angelides takes up innovation and strategy role at Spark Foundry
Media agency Spark Foundry has hired Marcos Angelides as its UK chief innovation officer and head of strategy.

Angelides’ brief it to “supercharge” the role of strategy and innovation to unlock growth for clients. He will be responsible for combining Spark Foundry’s data technology capabilities with designers and creatives to uncover fresh opportunities for the agency. This is off the back of the merger of Blue 449 into the Spark Foundry brand at the start of this year.

Angelides will report directly into Lindsay Turner, the agency’s CEO. He joins Spark Foundry from OMD ,where he co-led a department of 14 people in his position as managing partner of strategy. During that time, he was responsible for the strategic output of accounts including Google, Levi’s, Sony Pictures, Clark’s, Bacardi and Tourism Ireland.

Angelides advanced OMD’s approach to innovation, particularly within the field of digital out of home, where he spearheaded campaigns to expand the role of programmatic buying and dynamic creative. He was also a core contributor to the global roll out of a new planning process.

He said: “Im very excited to be joining the agency, as it continues strong momentum from the merger, especially under an inspirational leader such as Lindsay. The opportunity to work with her was a big factor in my accepting the role.”

Factual hires two, promotes ones
Location data company, Factual, has announced two key hires and a promotion in the London office as the business accelerates its growth into European markets.

Senior marketer Anna-Liisa Goshawk has joined as head of marketing, Europe, to encourage continued adoption of Factuals offerings for brands, agencies and partners and build on the existing reputation for quality and trusted location data in the UK and Europe.

This appointment follows that of Ross Webster as European managing director. He joined from IBM Watson and The Weather Company, where he spent 10 years building revenue, partnerships and structure as the managing director and VP of EMEA.

In addition, Rebecca Rose has been promoted to head of demand, effective immediately, and will play a pivotal role in building a European demand team to equip more customers with trusted, high quality location data.

In 2019, Factual announced the re-availability of its audience targeting, measurement and insights products in Europe in line with the GDPR compliance programme and the renewed availability of its audience-based products in Europe. The company said it has seen strong and growing demand across the region, with many customers seeking a local and more collaborative relationship to deliver effective and creative location data solutions at scale.

The expanding European team ensures Factual is positioned to develop relationships with a growing list of international customers and partners who can invest with confidence that Factuals products are GDPR compliant, in an industry where transparency is increasingly called into question.

Goshawk brings over 15 years experience in B2B marketing to the role, having held various senior marketing and management roles in media agencies, consultancies and PR agencies, helping businesses across the media, marketing and ad tech landscape to drive reputation and build awareness globally.

Whilst leading the established London team, Webster is charged with enabling customers to better understand consumers, reach audiences with precision and measure campaign effectiveness.

He said: “I am proud to be leading Factual into the European market with a world-class product and team. We are the most trusted data source for our global partners and customers and our reputation is a testament to the long-standing commitment to quality, respect and compliance the business has been built on. The industry faces a defining moment this year and its exciting to extend our future-proof location data offering into new markets”.

Reed to head up US enterprise business for Tealium
Tealium, which specialises in real-time customer data orchestration, has announced the appointment of Brent Reed as senior vice president of enterprise business for the Americas. He brings more than 20 years of enterprise software sales, business development and leadership experience to Tealium.

Most recently, he served as the head of SAP’s North America mid-market business, where he was responsible for driving the company’s efforts in growing its cloud portfolio business. Previous to that, he was responsible for launching the company’s cloud ERP business in North America, helping to secure the first 200 customers for the product. He also ran SAP’s strategic enterprise accounts in the West Region.

He said: “Throughout my 20 years of working in the enterprise software space, I’ve seen first hand the role customer data platforms play in the success of today’s businesses. I’m proud to be joining a team that’s pioneering customer data orchestration and helping it capitalize on the greenfield space that represents huge growth opportunities with partners and customers across the region.”

Keane-Dawson appointed Group CEO at Takumi
Following a year of rapid growth, influencer marketing service Takumi has appointed Mary Keane-Dawson as Group CEO. Her appointment supports the global management team as it executes on the company’s rapid growth plans. During 2019, it expanded into five new markets: France, Spain, Italy, Austria and Switzerland.

A digital agency entrepreneur and business growth expert, Keane-Dawson has founded three agency businesses and held C-suite leadership roles at WPP, Steak Media (Dentsu), Reform and Collective London. Most recently, she was a principal board member of Ogilvy & Mather Advertising and led its digital performance and paid social division, Neo@Ogilvy. She was also named one of the most influential women in digital in 2019. She has led international brand campaigns for Ford Motor Company, Nestle, American Express, Sage, IBM and Apple, among others.

“We are delighted to have such a creative and well-known digital media expert join the team,” said Takumi co-founder and executive chairman, Mats Stigzelius. “Mary is highly respected in the industry and her appointment reflects our plans to expand our global influencer offering. She brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the business, having worked in the sector for over 30 years.

“We want to sincerely thank Adam Williams for his contribution, and everything he has achieved and given to the company. In his time at Takumi, he has been instrumental in building the company and culture we have today.

“We are embarking on an exciting new chapter at Takumi, continuing our successful trajectory into 2020 and beyond, and Mary is perfectly positioned to spearhead our development.”

Brett to head up performance at Medialab Group
Medialab Group has appointed former m/six biddable director, Stephen Brett, as its head of performance. With over 11 years’ experience in performance media, tech and Analytics, Brett has worked across a range of sectors, including retail, SaaS, banking and fintech, and charity. Having worked separately across the Media and Data Science functions, he has been bringing the two together to ensure that Performance Media translates directly to business success.

Stephen first spent time at a range of specialist independent agencies pioneering new approaches and products focused on performance, which was then followed by a move to the large global networks. Now joining Medialab, Stephen is fulfilling his desire to move back into an open, honest and autonomous way of working, at a leader in the thriving independent market, and to be back at the forefront of nimble, data-driven, performance media.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have Stephen join our ever expanding team here at Medialab,” said Medialab CEO, Marcus Orme. “Stephen’s excellent reputation precedes him, and I’m really looking forward to having him help lead and shape the Digital and Performance teams here.”

Pavlovsky to CEO, Oringer to executive chairman at Shutterstock
Shutterstock has appointed Stan Pavlovsky, currently president and chief operating officer, as chief executive officer. He will also join the board of directors. Current CEO Jon Oringer, will become executive chairman of the board.

Pavlovsky joined the Company in April 2019, initially serving as the Company’s co-COO and head of strategic operations and transitioning to president and COO in June 2019. Prior to joining Shutterstock, he served as president of Meredith Digital and executive vice president, Meredith Corporation, a media company that is home to brands including People, Better Homes & Gardens, InStyle, REAL SIMPLE and Martha Stewart Living. He was responsible for leading Meredith’s core digital assets, including its sites and products, strategy, content, sales and its creative studio, The Foundry. Prior to that role, he successfully led strategy and development for Meredith’s largest digital food enterprise, Allrecipes.com, as the brand’s President.

“Shutterstock is one of those rare companies which has truly disrupted its industry through technology, and I couldn’t be more honored to be its next CEO,” Pavlovsky said. “We have a lot of opportunities ahead and a big part of my job is to start to deliver on the next chapter of our platform strategy.

“As we work to execute on our strategy, we will focus on providing adjacent services that our enterprise customers require to enhance their workflow, more fully leveraging our vast pool of first-party data, and continuing to develop industry-leading proprietary technology to help our customers drive top and bottom-line improvements to their businesses. I look forward to continuing to work closely with our excellent senior leadership team, along with Jon and our entire Board.”

As executive chairman, Oringer will continue to lead the Board of Directors and will be actively involved in critical aspects of Shutterstock’s business including strategy, M&A and capital allocation. He will also act as an advisor to Pavlovsky and continue to represent Shutterstock with customers, contributors and other key external groups around the world.

Licht joins GumGum board of advisors
GumGum, an artificial intelligence company specialising in solutions for advertising and media, has appointed Lisa Licht to its board of advisors. Licht’s addition comes as the company ramps up to launch several new technologies in 2020 and on the heels of two key growth milestones – record $155m global revenue in 2019 and a $22m Series-D funding round.

Licht is currently a marketing and brand partnership consultant for AllBright, Illumination Animation, the Metrograph and Exploding Kittens. Prior to branching into consultancy, she was CMO at Live Nation Concerts and led award-winning marketing campaigns at Mattel, 20th Century Fox, Hasbro and Yahoo.

Licht’s appointment is the latest in a series of moves by the company aimed maximising the growth of its core marketing-related businesses. The company expects to eclipse its best-ever 2019 revenues with continued global expansion and two new products in 2020.

GumGum’s new In-Video ad unit – a non-interruptive alternative to pre- and mid-roll ads – which has seen early adoption from several key brands, including Sprint, is being primed for a Q2 2020 industry-wide launch.

Meanwhile, Verity for Publishers, a contextual targeting and brand safety solution, was officially introduced last month. It simultaneously leverages computer vision and natural language processing for full-page content-level analysis of web content. The company plans to release a buy-side version of the product, Verity for Brands, later this year.

“We are extremely pleased to have Lisa join our board and eagerly await her contributions,” said GumGum CEO Phil Schaeder. “Not only does Lisa add a fresh new voice to the board at a time when we’ve made diversity a central all-around priority at GumGum, but she gives us unique access to all her hardwon insight accrued over a remarkable career.

“Lisa’s experience transforming businesses and inspiring creative innovation at some of the world’s most successful companies will be an asset to GumGum and our partners. She understands what our clients are looking for when it comes to reaching their consumers across the digital landscape, as well as how quickly that landscape is changing with the cookie die-off. In Lisa, we have someone who can help our clients and her peers navigate a world without cookies.”

Yeung takes up legal and privacy role at Lotame
Audience data company Lotame has announced the appointment of Amy Yeung as its general counsel and chief privacy officer. In addition to overseeing all legal functions, Yeung will spearhead Lotame’s privacy protocols across its business, providing consumers with transparency, notice and control while also helping to inform data consent and privacy features in the companys suite of data solutions for brands, agencies, and publishers.

Recognized as an expert in digital data and privacy issues, Yeung joins Lotame from Comscore, where she served as deputy general counsel, leading efforts to bring the company back to the public markets after it was delisted. She also evolved the company to first-rate compliance in alignment with new and upcoming privacy regulations, while being critical to the development and launch of Comscore products.

Prior to Comscore, she was vice president of legal at AI platform Dataminr during its midmarket expansion. Before Dataminr, she was assistant general counsel for global video game publisher ZeniMax, guiding this accelerated-growth company through emerging and evolving regulation around data, privacy, and protecting children.

“From ZeniMax to Comscore, Amy has proven to be a leader in advancing the global conversations around data privacy and best practices,” said Andy Monfried, founder and CEO of Lotame. “Global brands and publishers are facing an increasingly complicated climate as regulations evolve. At Lotame, we’re well-positioned to help them resolve these challenges through an industry-unique blend of quality data, privacy-forward ID solutions such as Cartographer, and our openness to work with all partners in the ecosystem. Amy’s impressive pedigree advising companies on industry-disruptive technology, digital innovation and data analytics initiatives will help support Lotame’s robust growth and stay ahead of the market and client needs.”

Dremeaux to spearhead addressable TV solutions at FreeWheel
FreeWheel, which provides video advertising software, has appointed Virginie Dremeaux as executive director, product and sales marketing international, to support its position in the addressable TV industry across Europe. Based in Paris, she will report to Maria Weaver, CMO of Comcast Advertising.

In her new role, Dremeaux will focus on accelerating the launch of FreeWheels latest addressable TV solutions. These will be based on technological implementation, support in terms of data processing and the development of business models that deal with the issues around addressable TV. She will be a key partner for sales teams on the buy-side, particularly for the launch of new media offerings for agencies and brands.

Before joining FreeWheel, Dremeaux spent 11 years working at Canal+ Group as digital marketing director in the advertising department. More than 20 years’ experience in TV and digital advertising has enabled her to develop strong capabilities to optimise the monetisation of TV inventory across all digital media.

She said: “I am delighted to join an international company that has supported the advancement of the TV advertising industry, and in particular the development of addressable TV, in both European and US markets. Faced with the challenge of the paradigm shift that is taking place, I will use my expertise to drive advertising innovation projects for both content publishers and buyers.”

Lover to client services MD at Tag
Marketing production firm Tag has hired Tamara Lover as client services managing director, Tag EMEA. Reporting to Tag EMEA CEO, Andria Vidler, she will be focused on building Tag Creative Production Client Services.

Lover has spent the last three years as global managing director at Hogarth. With a business development background in marketing and advertising, she has led production strategy and designed innovative and agile marketing production solutions in the wellness category. Prior to Hogarth, she was SVP at Saatchi & Saatchi and VP at Arnold Worldwide, as well as founding Bottle Rush, a wine concierge company.

She said: “Creative production is undergoing a transformative period as marketing assets need to be delivered at scale with speed and quality. I’m excited to be joining Tag at a pivotal time where I can partner with top talent and clients to drive innovation in this space and business growth for clients.”

Garrick takes up marketing role at Mindbody Europe
Mindbody Europe, the technology platform for the wellness industry, has appointed Heather Garrick as a senior marketing manager. She will oversee the growth of Mindbody across Europe and the UK, while also providing product support.

Garrick has 15 years’ marketing experience, across both corporate brands and startups, where she has specialised in launching studios, client retention and software integration. Most recently, she was the commercial director at Triyoga, one of Europe’s leading destinations for yoga and complementary therapies and a key Mindbody customer.

“As Mindbody continues to grow, it’s vital that we add experienced heads to the team, to oversee and harness this period of growth,” said Mindbody Europe MD, Phil Coxon. “Heather’s experience of running a large business in the wellbeing industry will undoubtably improve the insight we have on our customer’s needs. Mindbody is keen to expand on its current clientele, whilst working with its existing clients, and Heather’s knowledge of the market will only help us achieve this goal. We’re very excited to have her on board.”

Ex-Googler Yates to head up marketing at Flatfair
Flatfair, a payment technology company that allows tenants to instantly rent a home with just their debit card, has appointed Elisabeth Yates as head of marketing, as the company continues to scale up. Yates joins Flatfair from William Hill, where she was senior strategy manager for online gaming. She previously spent time at Google as marketing campaign manager, where she built the marketing strategy for B2B outreach. Her career has also included spells at Groupon and Sainsbury’s.

At Flatfair, Yates will be responsible for leading the marketing team and creating a robust and innovative strategy to support the business’ ambitious goal of driving a fairer, more transparent and accessible rental market that everybody trusts. As more people in the UK are renting than ever before, a key part of the role will be educating tenants, landlords and partners on today’s rental market to ensure that they make the best decisions for their needs.

In August 2019, Flatfair raised $11m through a Series A from major investors including Index Ventures, early backers of Facebook, Skype, and Just Eat, and the founder of Transferwise.

Flatfair charges a small one-off membership fee per tenancy, equivalent to one week’s rent (+VAT), and uses its open banking technology to enable tenants to instantly secure their home with just their debit card, making the process similar to checking into a hotel. This helps tenants move into a property faster, whilst removing the strain of having to pay a hefty deposit.

“I’m delighted to welcome Elisabeth to Flatfair at this exciting stage in the business’ journey,” said founder and CEO, Franz Doerr. “Her wide range of experience will be key in our efforts to change the way people think about renting, as well as helping more renters avoid the burden of excessive upfront costs whilst offering more landlords unrivalled protection.”

Former PlayStation chief House joins Bidstack advisory board 
In-game advertising platform Bidstack has added Andrew House, former president, CEO and chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), to its advisory board. House started his career with Sony in its Tokyo PR team in 1990. He served as CMO between 2005-2009, and then went on to serve as the co-CEO, then CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, before becoming Group CEO between 2013-2017.

He is credited with helping Sony’s PlayStation reach a mainstream audience, and was responsible for driving the record-breaking launch of the PS4 in 2013. With 106m units sold worldwide, PS4 outsold many home game consoles including Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Switch.

In addition, House concentrated Sony’s network services strategy around PlayStation Network, which, by March 2019, had more than 94m monthly active users, and its premium subscription service PlayStation Plus which, at the same time, had over 36m subscribers.

He also spearheaded Sony’s entry into the virtual-reality market with the development and launch of PlayStation VR which, by the time House left Sony, had sold over 1m headsets in just over a year.

On joining the Bidstack board, House said: “the gaming industry has always been about evolution and progression and striving for solutions that make games more fun, more relatable and more entertaining for the community. Against a background of disruption to monetisation strategies within games, I believe that Bidstacks approach of contextually relevant ads can generate revenue without disrupting the user experience. Its a business that can make a significant impact in the space.”

Vonage opens Paris office, hires four
Business cloud communications firm Vonage has increased its presence in France with the addition of an office in central Paris for the company’s sales, alliances and customer support teams in the region. The office is part of Vonage’s expansion plans throughout the wider EMEA region, where it already has several offices, including those in London, Madrid, Berlin, Stockholm, Munich, Wroclaw and Dubai.

The company has also made several appointments to its Applications Group in the region, including Nicolas Perrilliat, who joins from Salesforce as regional sales manager; Marie-Anne Naz as alliances manager; Pierrick Hollocou as sales executive and Dominique Rousseau as senior solutions engineer. The Applications Group encompasses Vonage’s unified communications and contact centre portfolios. Vonage is positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the Leaders quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), for Western Europe.