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.

Pixability brings in Woods to lead revenue
Chris Woods has joined video advertising software company Pixability as chief revenue officer. He is tasked with helping to build revenue growth and promote the company’s video marketing solutions as it expands them to include connected TV.

Woods served as a sales executive for Google for seven years, rising to become the head of UK sales strategy and global industry relations. Immediately prior to joining Pixability, Woods served as chief growth officer at Allen & Gerritsen. He has also advised CEOs on sales and marketing issues as president of Boston Bridge Partners, LLC. The company, founded by Woods in 2013, donates a portion of its profits to support at-risk children in the inner city.

“Pixability has demonstrated the strength of its video advertising platform with rapid growth, and we are confident that Chris Woods is the right person to further propel us to the next level,” said David George, CEO of Pixability. “Chris knows what works for each sales vertical and his record of success in growing revenue across all of them, along with his crucial experience at Google, will point us in the right direction as we continue to deliver more unified campaigns across social video platforms and CTV.”

Matthiesen joins Quantcast’s legal team
Quantcast, an audience intelligence and measurement firm, has appointed Matthias Matthiesen as senior privacy council. Joining the company’s legal and corporate development team in Dublin, he will be responsible for creating, advising, and enforcing global privacy and data protection policy, as well as guiding clients and partners through compliance with GDPR and future privacy regulations.

Matthiesen joins Quantcast from his role as director of privacy and public policy at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Europe. While there, he led the industry body’s strategy and approach to privacy and data protection, including playing a key part in developing its Transparency and Consent Framework in response to GDPR.

“I have had the pleasure to work closely with Quantcast during my time at IAB Europe, where Quantcast has substantially contributed to the development and recent review of the Transparency and Consent Framework,” said Matthiesen. “I believe Quantcast’s approach to privacy, and its leadership in enabling transparency and choice online is an important step toward better advertising and publishing industries.  I look forward to being a part of Quantcast’s continued efforts to empower users online, and its mission to sustain a free and open internet.”

SpotX hires Richter as science chief
Dr. Neal Richter has been appointed as SpotX’s first chief scientist. Reporting to the video advertising firm’s chief technology officer, J. Allen Dove, he will head up SpotX’s new Salt Lake City office, where he will invest in the company’s data science and machine learning efforts alongside the greater RTL Group’s work in artificial intelligence.

Richter joins SpotX with 20 years of experience in software development and data science. He holds 10 patents and has published more than 15 academic papers on machine learning and artificial intelligence. He was also recently elected chairperson of the IAB Tech Lab and has contributed to the early development of the OpenRTB protocol, OpenRTB Native, Ads.txt, Ads.cert, Sellers.json, and other industry standards. Prior to his new role at SpotX, Richter served as CTO of Rakuten Marketing where he oversaw technology and data science teams across programmatic and affiliate systems.

“I’m excited to work with such a renowned video advertising and monetization platform to refine its artificial intelligence and machine learning strategy,” said Richter. “Video content consumption and advertising is rapidly evolving, SpotX is already leading the pack in solutions and I’m glad to be part of the revolution.”

Pearson added to Cargo’s executive team
Cargo, Uber’s in-car commerce provider, has hired Kate Pearson as its chief operating officer. She will look to optimise the company’s trajectory for efficiency and effectiveness as it prepares for its next stage of growth.

Pearson’s appointment comes shortly after the firm’s first international expansion in Brazil. She joins from Tesla, where she was head of customer experience and operations, building the company’s North America delivery team and spearheading the launch and optimisation of its home delivery program. Before Tesla, she was vice president of strategy, operations and digital acceleration at Walmart.

“It was really important for me to find a company with not only great growth potential, but also a culture that empowers its employees to perform through respect, and Jeff has done an admirable job at doing just that,” said Pearson. “I’m excited to work with a high calibre team to continue pushing the company towards its full potential and build upon its many successes so far.”

Wavemaker makes a trio of senior appointments
Media agency network Wavemaker has added Robert Jane as chief talent officer, Chetan Murthy as head of journey design, and Nicky Bradley as marketing director – all within its UK division.

Reporting to chief operating officer Anna Hickey, Jane will be focused on embedding the Wavemaker manifesto ‘Let’s Make the Future’, driving the proposition of Care, Create, Grow into the business. He brings over 17 years HR leadership experience across a variety of different sectors, including seven years leading talent teams at Yahoo and, most recently, as a consultant to a variety of digital and technology businesses.

Murthy, who will report to chief strategy officer Verra Budimlija, has been tasked with helping to improve purchase journey thinking across all of Wavemaker’s roster of clients. He joins Wavemaker UK following five years as global head of strategy at Vizeum, working with clients such as Ikea, Honda and AB InBev.  Prior to that he led strategy across APAC for WPP’s full-service agency, Red Fuse, and as group strategy director at MEC UK across government clients, Bupa, Nintendo and Danone.

Bradley will report to chief growth officer Mu Ali and be responsible for developing and leading the marketing strategy for Wavemaker. Boasting more than 20 years’ experience within the media industry, she joins from Outdoor Plus, where she was head of marketing. Prior to that, she was UK marketing director at Maxus.

“In Rob, Chetan and Nicky we have three experienced senior practitioners who will help us continue to drive future growth for the agency, our clients and our people,” said Paul Hutchison, Wavemaker UK CEO. “Rob is a proven talent professional who will lead our commitment to the development of our People and Culture, while Nicky will ensure that our Wavemaker proposition is loudly and clearly communicated to clients and talent alike.  Chetan’s strategic capabilities will help to deliver impact for our clients and build the agency of the future.”

Ricci joins Zipwhip’s executive team
Zipwhip, a business text messaging platform, has appointed Faye Ricci as its senior vice president, general counsel and secretary. She will oversee all of the company’s legal activities, including the legal aspects of strategic transactions, business development and enterprise sales.  

Ricci brings more than two decades of transactional, operational and risk experience at major national law firms, as in-house counsel and in-business roles. She has also served as vice president at both Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan Chase Bank.

“I’m thrilled to join such a welcoming and inclusive team here at a critical juncture for the company,” said Ricci. “I’m eager to collaborate with Zipwhip’s impressive leadership to ensure we’re applying best practices around compliance and data-protection regulations, managing our industry reputation and safeguarding our customers’ privacy.”

Telaria adds two to EMEA leadership
Bill Swanson has become vice president of EMEA, while Carole Dubourg has been made country manager for France, at video management platform Telaria.

Swanson will report to chief strategy officer Doug Campbell and be based out of the company’s London office. Most recently, he was chief revenue officer EMEA at PubMatic, where he was responsible for launching and growing the company’s EMEA supply side platform business. He has also held roles at leading publishers including The Independent (ESI Media), The Times, and The Sun (News UK).

“Telaria has built a leading position in connected TV and premium video in the US, and I’m looking forward to leveraging that expertise and unique technology for the growing CTV/OTT market in EMEA,” said Swanson. “With transparent business models and technology that simplify challenges and unlock programmatic video opportunities for publishers and brands, Telaria is perfectly positioned to accelerate growth in the region as more brands and agencies look to access cord cutters and premium video takes off.” 

Dubourg was most recently Country Lead in France at Sizmek, where she managed the sales team and developed and expanded relationships with stakeholders. Previously, she was the managing director of digital at Doctissimo and has also held leadership positions at Ovalie Communication, Yahoo, and Canal+.

“I’m excited to join Telaria at this strategic time as television and digital video undergo significant changes in France,” said Dubourg. “I see enormous potential for Telaria’s proven technology in digital video and connected TV in this region, and I look forward to contributing to the company’s accelerated growth.”

Olaye arrives at The North Alliance
Scandinavian design, communication, and tech network The North Alliance has appointed Michael Olaye as its chief growth officer. Based in Stockholm, his mission is to build a stronger international footprint by leading the network’s global growth initiatives.

Olaye brings more than 20 years of experience to The North Alliance. He has founded, led and worked at digital agencies including U-dox, Dare, Oliver, and Havas, where he has helped clients such as Adidas, BMW, Nike and Chivas through business transformations.

“When I first met  The North Alliance team, I was impressed with how this mainly Scandinavian player has managed to not only gather some of the world’s best advertising, design and digital agencies under one roof, but also how they consistently put amazing, award-winning work out there,” said Olaye.

“This, coupled with the fact that there’s something special going on in Stockholm – the city where Spotify, Mojang, iZettle, Skype, King and many others were founded and took off – presents an exciting new challenge. I’m very much looking forward to joining The North Alliance team and being part of the journey going forward.”

Clicky Media makes raft of appointments
Chester-based digital marketing agency Clicky has made a series of hires across its departments. It has brought in Robin Cooke as senior account manager, Sarah Barnard as digital account manager, Lowri Jones as SEO & content executive, Paulomi Bhadra as pro-support developer, and Shannon May as PPC executive.

“We’ve had a raft of new clients come on board and the need to expand the team,” said Oli Yeates, CEO and founder of Clicky. “Our business is a fast-paced one, and as such our recent hires are deliberately experienced and established digital marketers who can hit the ground running. We’re delighted that we are in a position as an agency to be able to attract some of the North West’s most exciting talents.”