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.

Salesforce appoints a Dame to lead its UKI business
Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia will join Salesforce as its UK and Ireland chief executive officer on 1 October to lead the business through its next stage of growth.

Gadhia is founder of the startup, Snoop. Previously she was the CEO of Virgin Money from 2007 to 2018. As a chartered accountant, she spent six years at Norwich Union (now Aviva) before becoming one of the founders of Virgin Direct in 1995. Three years later, she set up the Virgin One account, which was acquired by The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in 2001. She subsequently spent five years at RBS before returning to Virgin as CEO of Virgin Money. She became a Dame in the 2019 New year Honours list for her contribution to financial services and women in the finance industry.

“I’ve admired Salesforce from afar for a long time,” said Gadhia. “This is a different kind of business, with deeply held values and a true focus on transforming the experience of every customer through cutting edge technology. I’m looking forward to working with the team as we continue to invest and support Salesforce’s growing customer base in UKI.”

Bhasin joins Shutterstock’s board
Shutterstock has added Rachna Bhasin to its board of directors, where she will serve on the compensation committee.

Bhasin, founder and CEO of EQ Partners and co-founder of Pacifica Investments, previously served as chief business officer at Magic Leap for over three years. Here, she helped grow the team and led business development, M&A, and strategic partnerships. Since departing in January, she has continued to work with Magic Leap as a senior advisor to the CEO.

Before Magic Leap, she held the role of senior vice president of corporate strategy and business development at SiriusXM Radio, and has previously held senior positions at Dell and EMI Music North America. Bhasin currently serves on the board for Ryman Hospitality Properties and is a current member of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

“I am honoured to join Shutterstocks board of directors and to draw from my knowledge and experience to help guide Shutterstock in its mission to deliver increased value to its customers, contributors and stockholders,” said Bhasin. “In a time where the demand for content is at an all-time high, Shutterstock is well-positioned to serve the needs of marketers, creatives and businesses around the world, providing them with the content, tools and services they need to grow and thrive.”

Twitch brings in Cowan as advertising marketing director
Fran Cowan has been hired by Amazon-owned live streaming platform Twitch as its first director of advertiser marketing. Starting on 12 August, she will be charged with raising the profile of the Twitch sales proposition.

Cowan joins Twitch after seven years at InSkin Media, where she started as the company’s first marketing executive and progressed to the role of chief marketing officer. She is also VP of marketing at the International Advertising Association (IAA) UK.

Smith takes up head business role at Location Sciences
Location Sciences, a location verification provider, has appointed Jason Smith as its US chief business officer. Reporting to CEO Mark Slade, he will work to establish and build relationships with key customers in the US and develop marketing strategies to raise awareness of inaccurate location fraud and its impact on campaign performance.

Smith joins with over 16 years experience in the out-of-home and digital advertising space. He was a former senior partner and MD of Mindshare, where he led the business and performance strategy for clients including Geico and Capital One. Prior to Mindshare, he spent 10 years at Horizon Media. In his most recent role as VP of digital investments, he headed up trading and partnership developments.

“With location data transparency, integrity and privacy compliance under increasing scrutiny, I felt the opportunity to lead the US team at Location Sciences was too good to turn down,” said Smith. “I look forward to being part of the team that helps marketers drive exponential performance results within the $160 billion digital advertising marketplace.”

UM looks to Smalls-Landau to lead marketing
Deidre Smalls-Landau has been named as US chief marketing officer at IPG Mediabrands’ marketing and media agency network, UM. Reporting to US CEO Lynn Lewis, she will oversee UMs strategic branding, platforms and initiatives, carrying over her previous responsibilities as global head of culture, to ensure a broader impact for the diversity-based cultural framework she spearheaded at the agency.

Under Smalls-Landaus leadership, UM launched Remix Culture, the first culturally-focused iteration of its annual Wave X study that tracks social and digital media usage and motivations globally. She also spearheaded the launch of UMs Unity 20/40 diversity initiative, which aims to increase diverse representation within the agency by mirroring the projected US ethnic population of the 2040, by 2020.

Smalls-Landau is the IPG representative for the Times Up/Advertising Steering Committee and a member of the 4As Media Leadership Council.

“I strongly believe that having diversity as a filter for everything we do is a catalyst for cultural transformation and business growth, and an imperative for creating meaningful impact within all levels of an organization,” said Smalls-Landau. “Im excited for the opportunity to play a greater role in applying cultural perspective in how we go to market as we think about audience behaviours and trends.”

Boler to manage Scibids sales outside London
AI-powered ad tech firm Scibids has appointed One Link Digital, headed up by Peter Boler, to bolster its presence outside of London. Boler, acting as regional sales director, has been tasked with partnering with agencies and brands across Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Scotland who are interested in discovering how powerful the creation and deployment of custom algorithms can be on their campaigns.

Boler brings with him over 20 years of experience within digital advertising and has held senior sales roles at companies including, Yahoo, MEN Media, The Exchange Lab and most recently, Weve (O2).

“In today’s complex environment, marketers and agencies want and need the benefits of domain specific AI capabilities, yet are hesitant because of the resource and investment it incurs,” said Boler. “Scibids is a fascinating business that’s transparent and flexible and I’m sure its AI as a Service business model will be a game-changer for the industry.”

Centro adds Gensler in senior client development role
David Gensler has joined Centro, a digital marketing solutions provider, as senior vice president of client development. He will work with both agencies and clients to implement the company’s ‘Basis’ platform and integrate programmatic advertising with media planning, buying, operations, campaign analytics, business intelligence, and billing reconciliation.

Prior to joining Centro, Gensler operated his own firm, GSD Consulting, to strengthen the marketing capabilities of organisations in the data science and technology sectors. He was also senior vice president of the food beverage spirits category for Time, Inc., overseeing the group’s advertising sales. Before that, he was EVP and head of ad sales for LiveIntent. Gensler has also led and scaled sales teams for Millennial Media and AOL. 

“Considering the pressures that media agencies face from clients and stakeholders, we believe that Basis profoundly affects their ability to drive performance and profitability through automation,” said Gensler. “Centro has the opportunity to transform the way marketers work because of our game-changing technology, national sales coverage and principled reputation.”

Knights takes spot in WorkMobile’s software dev team
Mobile data capture specialist WorkMobile has appointed Che Knights as a software developer. As a C# developer, he will help to develop the company’s systems in line with industry best practice.

Knights has more than 20 years of software development experience. He has held a variety of programmer and developer positions at Pets at Home, Pregis and, most recently, Kaonix.

“Manchester is home to a burgeoning number of forward-thinking technology companies, and, as a leading provider of cloud-based digital solutions, WorkMobile is no exception,” said Knights. “I’m delighted to be joining the business during this period of growth, and helping to ensure its software systems remain at the cutting edge and the WorkMobile app is the best it can be.”

DoubleVerify opts for Bukhari as MD
Tanzil Bukhari has taken up the position of EMEA managing director at digital media measurement software firm DoubleVerify. Based in London, he is charged with leading the company’s expansion efforts across Europe with an added focus on Russia and the Nordics, while strengthening the company’s business relationships with brands, agencies and media platforms.

A 20-year media industry veteran, Bukhari previously worked at Google as EMEA head of agency development. Previously, he was head of DoubleClick Ad Exchange in Northern and Central Europe, where he launched DoubleClick AdX in EMEA.

“Global brands continue to address the issues of fraud, brand safety and viewability within their campaigns, and how they impact marketing effectiveness and business outcomes,” said Bukhari. “I’m excited to leverage my deep experience in programmatic and digital media to help accelerate DV’s growth across Europe.”

McCurry named chief of strategy at IAS
Integral Ad Science (IAS) has chosen Kevin McCurry as its chief strategy officer. Reporting directly to CEO Lisa Utzschneider, he will lead the organisation in identifying and evaluating large-scale strategic opportunities for the company with a focus on mergers and acquisitions.

McCurry boasts over 25 years of experience in strategy and corporate development. Prior to joining IAS, he was an executive in residence at Partners Healthcare, where he supported major data strategy, billing operations, and machine learning initiatives. Before that, he was senior vice president of corporate development and strategy at SunGard. McCurry has also been chief strategy officer for Thomson Reuters’ healthcare and science data and information businesses.

“Marketplaces — whether in financial services, healthcare, or advertising — benefit when buyers and sellers can access trusted and meaningful data supported by a highly-technical data science team. Digital advertising is at a particularly exciting and critical juncture with its rapid growth, increasing technological complexity, and heightened needs, especially in areas such as brand safety and fraud prevention,” said McCurry. “With its long track record of innovation, IAS has attained a truly unique position, delivering trusted data, measurement, and global insight to the digital advertising industry. I am thrilled to be joining the team as we set the path forward to deliver new capabilities and insights that our customers require.”

Media Chain gives Edwards lead sales role
Jon Edwards has been hired as head of sales at Media Chain, Social Chain’s social-first publishing arm. Based in London, he will hold responsibility of all Media Chain brand partnership sales across the UK, initially focusing on growing the social media publishing business and will work to deliver highly engaging and effective campaigns.

Edwards previously held the role of brand partnerships account director at LadBible Group and is also formerly of Hearst and Trinity Mirror, where he has worked with the likes of PepsiCo, Amazon, Sony Columbia, Ladbrokes Coral, and Warner Bros.

“I’m very honoured to be joining Media Chain and to work on developing their commercial offering across their vast and progressive portfolio of brands,” said Edwards. “To have the opportunity to work on fantastic brands like SPORF, Student Problems and GameByte among many others, alongside some of the best entrepreneurial thought leaders in the social space at a time of ambitious growth, excites me. I look forward to seeing what the future of Media Chain holds.”

Doucette elevated to creative head at Leo Burnett
Leo Burnett Chicago has promoted Jordan Doucette to the role of chief creative officer. Reporting jointly to president and chief strategy officer of Leo Burnett Chicago Emma Montgomery and chierf creative officer of Leo Burnett Worldwide, she will oversee the creative and production departments at Leo Burnett Chicago.

Doucette, who’s been as the agency since January 2018, most recently served as executive vice president/executive creative director. In her new role, she will continue to lead the creative for clients including The Kellogg Company and Miller-Coors.

Previously, she was chief creative officer of Taxi in Toronto, where she led work for clients including Pfizer (Centrum, Advil and Robax), Canadian Tire, Marks, Fido Telecommunications, Mini Cooper, Vancouver Aquarium, and BC Hydro.

“What attracted me to Leo Burnett is that its a creative solutions company that is continually transforming how we work to bring the best, most effective ideas to the table,” said Doucette. “Im most excited that this role will help me get closer to our clients and our teams to help shape not only the work, but how we work.”

FCB brings Ordóñez onboard as head of creative
Andrés Ordóñez has been hired as chief creative officer at FCB Chicago. He will work closely with global chief creative officer Susan Credle and join the agency’s Global Creative Council.

Ordóñez has spent the last five years at Energy BBDO, working with clients including Wrigley, Bayer, MillerCoors, SC Johnson, American Egg Board, Avocados From Mexico, National Safety Council, Ocean Spray, and Luxottica. Prior to Energy BBDO, he launched Ford Sync.

“I am very happy to have the chance to work with Susan. I have always thought I was destined to work with her. Even before I ever met her, it felt like I was in her orbit because of the places we both worked and the kinds of ideas we have created for brands. I know we will do great things together,” said Ordóñez.

“From the moment I walked into FCB Chicago, I couldnt stop thinking about it. I wanted to be a part of it and work with the people there to set new heights. It is the place – and the people – where I will be able to put my heart and the passion for what I do, where Ill be able to create some of the best work of my career.”

Pokkt selects Kumar as head of technology
Dinesh Kailash Kumar has been appointed as chief technology officer at Pokkt, a mobile in-game advertising platform. Based in Bangalore and reporting to co-founder and CEO Rohit Sharma, he will lead the company’s technology function.

Kumar has worked at organisations including Amazon, InMobi, Microsoft, and Yahoo. At Amazon, he led a 50-member international tech division in Bangalore, where his teams built software solutions for the automotive category and vendor management solutions.

Before Amazon, he was at InMobi as their VP of engineering. In this role, he led the brand and programmatic engineering initiatives managing engineering activities spanning across Bangalore and San Francisco.

“Pokkt’s growth in the past few years has been commendable and to be a part of the team that takes good quality in-game advertising to the next level is very exciting for me,” said Kumar. “I look forward to building best in class advertising products that will power the next phase of POKKT’s growth.”

Matta installed to lead ICX Media
Video analytics startup ICX Media has handed Serge Matta the role of president and chief executive officer. Michael Avon, the founder of the company, will remain actively involved as executive chairman.

Matta joins ICX Media from GroundTruth, where he served as president. During his tenure, he managed GroundTruth’s global sales and marketing teams. He was instrumental in GroundTruth’s acquisition of WeatherBug and securing Dentsu Japan as a strategic partner.

“I had been following ICX Media’s progression, and when I was approached to lead the company in its next stage of growth, I joined without hesitation,” said Matta. “I know that media and entertainment companies, brands and agencies must have access to the tools, data, and insights necessary to power their video strategies. Built with machine learning and data analytics at its core, ICX Media’s market approach, powered by best-in-class tools and audience data for video content creation, distribution, marketing and monetization truly sets the company apart.”