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.

SAP names Morgan and Klein as co-bosses
Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein have been appointed co-chief executive officers at SAP, following Bill McDermott’s decision to step down from his position as CEO.

Morgan, who joined SAP in 2004, most recently served as president of the Cloud Business Group, overseeing Qualtrics, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Ariba, SAP Fieldglass, SAP Customer Experience and SAP Concur. She was named an executive board member in 2017.

“I could not be more grateful to Hasso Plattner and the supervisory board for placing their trust in me and Christian to lead this next chapter for SAP,” said Morgan. “We accept the challenge with a high degree of humility, but also with a sincere belief that the best is yet to come for SAP. We have the finest, most talented colleagues in the world who give us so much confidence in the road ahead. Bill McDermott has been not only a tremendous leader, but a mentor and a role model for so many of us. In Bill, we stand on the shoulders of a giant and look forward to building on his legacy of success.”

Klein, who started his career at SAP two decades ago as a student, most recently served as the company’s chief operating officer, also overseeing product development for the flagship ERP solution SAP S/4HANA. Previously, he worked as SAP SuccessFactors chief financial officer and as SAP chief controlling officer. Klein was appointed to the executive board in 2018.

“As someone who began my career in the halls of SAP, this is the highest honour I can imagine to become co-CEO together with Jennifer. Hasso Plattner has given us a tremendous opportunity and we are truly thankful to him and the supervisory board,” said Klein. “SAP has the most comprehensive solution portfolio in the industry. We have an unprecedented opportunity to finish what we started and deliver the intelligent enterprise. This will be the best way to honor our predecessor, Bill McDermott. We will always strive to be leaders who bring out the best in people like Bill has always done.”

McDermott will remain in an advisory capacity until the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition.

Tessier takes brand lead at MoPub
MoPub, a Twitter-owned mobile exchange, has hired Vincent Tessier as its brand and agency lead EMEA. He brings more than 12 years of experience into his new position from a variety of roles at Universal Music, AOL, Trademob and LaPlaceMedia.

Most recently, Tessier was the general manager EMEA at Adsquare, where he has successfully scaled and transformed the startup into a European market leader in the audience and footfall measurement category, across nine markets and four local offices.

“I am incredibly excited to be joining MoPub at Twitter and look forward to working closely with our brand and agency partners,” said Tessier. “Mobile has been ubiquitous in our lives for some years but only now is its true potential as a media channel being unlocked. I look forward working closely with our brand partners to help them reach their customers programmatically via MoPub, offering access to 45,000 apps and 1.45bn mobile devices globally.”

Leo Burnett selects Avener as MD
Carly Avener has joined Leo Burnett London as managing director. Reporting to chief executive officer Charlie Rudd, she will be in care of the day-to-day running and operations of the agency, working with existing clients including Iceland, McDonald’s, Betfair, and Gulf Oil.

Before joining Leo Burnett London, Avener was at BBH, where she launched and ran the agencys social media specialism and brand experience output working with clients such as Next, Burberry, Mentos, Burger King and Samsung. In 2018, she led Burger King’s brand repositioning and relaunched The Whopper. She also developed the AR immersive experience called Doorways for Samsung in partnership with Family Guy.

Prior to BBH, she worked at McCann Erickson on the Microsoft, American Airlines, and Co-op accounts.

“It’s a really exciting time to be at Leo Burnett right now and I’ve seen the agency go from strength to strength. Their iconic work is famous across the UK and I can’t wait to get started,” commented Avener.

Gold promoted to director of social at Grey
Grey, the advertising network of WPP-owned Grey Group, has elevated Kenny Gold to senior vice president, director of social media for Grey North America. Working with Grey offices in Los Angeles, Toronto, and Montreal, he will build the agencys talent and capabilities, enhance partnerships with social platforms, and ensure social is an integral part of new business development.

Gold has served as SVP, director of social media for Grey New York for the past 15 months. During his tenure, Gold has played an integral role operationally, strategically and creatively developing content and the innovative use of social media for the agency and its clients. Grey New York has doubled its social media team under his leadership.

Dan Bennett, worldwide chief innovation officer at Grey Group, said: “Kenny Gold has brought energy and vision to placing social at the heart of our creative and strategic approach to brand building. Hes expanded the horizons of how we create Famously Effective work that resonates in popular culture.”

Telaria adds Antoniou to direct on publisher accounts
Jenny Antoniou has taken the role of publisher account director, ad operations at video management platform Telaria. Reporting to vice president EMEA Bill Swanson, and based out of Telaria’s London office, she is responsible for the growth of Telaria’s EMEA publisher and broadcaster business.

Antoniou was previously head of campaign management at Dennis Publishing. She led teams through large-scale change covering all aspects of digital media operations, programmatic, content-led partnerships and B2B lead generation. As co-chair of the AOP’s Ad Ops Steering Group, Antoniou has also led and rolled out industry-wide publisher initiatives.

“Telaria has built a leading position in connected TV and premium video globally across the US and APAC regions,” said Antoniou. “As the video advertising landscape evolves and grows at a rapid pace in EMEA, I’m excited to build on thebe part of the company’s success journey by leveraging its technology to unlock more programmatic video opportunities for publishers and brands in EMEA.”

Blakeway to lead programmatic at Journey Further
Performance marketing agency Journey Further has handed Ed Blakeway the role of head of programmatic & paid social at the company’s new Manchester office, which he will head up. He has joined to enhance the agency’s display and social offerings as clients demand greater transparency, stronger creative direction, and an integrated approach across paid and organic activity.

Blakeway was previously associate director at iProspect and, before that, head of programmatic at Search Laboratory.

“I am really excited to be joining the Journey Further team and establishing the agency in Manchester,” said Blakeway. “It is rare to find an agency that has such a strong proposition – Clarity at Speed – and a set of values that has created a unique and empowering culture. I will be working closely with Robin and the team to deliver for our clients and foster that culture in Manchester.”

Tealium welcomes Bullock to lead marketing
Heidi Bullock has joined Tealium, a customer data orchestration firm, as chief marketing officer, arriving from the same role at Engagio.

At Engagio, Bullock was responsible for the go-to-market strategy, product marketing, internal sales, corporate communications, and helping create the ABM automation category. Before that, she was group vice president of global marketing at Marketo, where she built out the award-winning demand generation function globally that helped lead to a successful IPO and, later, an acquisition.

“As a marketer, it is my job to provide customers with meaningful experiences and that requires leveraging the right types of data, responsibly, when it matters most. Tealium is appealing because it solves this issue regardless of the type of data or source,” said Bullock. “Im proud to be joining an innovative team that pioneered the customer data solution space. For me, the most important part of being a leader is to support, grow, energize and connect all of our team members – as well as the customers we serve.”

Balekjian and Cura join Badi senior team
Badi, an AI-driven room rental marketplace, has hired Glenda Balekjian as vice president of product and Ezequiel Cura as vice president of engineering.

Balekjian leaves her leadership role within Booking.com’s core marketplace product development team, which saw her lead data science based initiatives to match guests with the right accommodation, post booking automation services, and refining messaging based solutions which connected customer service, hosts and travellers across 42 languages. She will now use her experience to further Badi’s strategic drive to improve its user-centred product offering. 

“I’m looking forward to leading our product efforts at Badi, a young fast-growing organisation with huge potential,” commented Balekjian. “I’m inspired by Badi’s vision to create solutions that make our world better through the power of technology. Making space in a crowded world resonates as one of the biggest problems to solve for future generations. It’s about sustainability and quality of life.”

Cura joins from Google where he worked in Photos, Research, Google Pay, and SumUX.

“I have always been a product and goal driven engineer. I had the luck to lead a wide number of projects for Google that helped to hone the skill set I will bring to Badi,” said Cura. “I enjoy closely collaborating with cross-functional teams and I’m looking forward to continuing Badis efforts to help everyone live everywhere, now in an international setting.”

Mapp opts for Alberti to lead global sales
Maurizio Alberti has been promoted to the role of vice president of global sales at cloud-based digital marketing provider Mapp. He will oversee the development of Mapps annual sales plan and define the corresponding sales policies and practices. In addition, Alberti will lead the company’s global direct and channel sales strategies and expand the international sales team, providing optimal operational support for Mapps overall business objectives.

Alberti boasts more than 15 years of digital marketing industry experience, starting his career as an account manager at eCircle before being appointed managing director for Italy in 2010. From 2013, he held the position of managing director for Italy at Teradata, where his responsibilities included launching the integrated marketing applications solution in Italy. Teradata would then evolve into Mapp in 2016.

“Following my role as Managing Director Europe, I am delighted to now apply my knowledge to Mapps global business,” said Alberti. “As our company continues to grow, consistent, effective sales operations are essential to further expand our customer base and achieve our defined business objectives. We still have a great deal of potential in cross-channel marketing.”

Lewis to head up finance at Clicky
Digital marketing agency Clicky has appointed Jane Lewis as head of finance, bringing her wealth of corporate experience to the growing agency.

Lewis joins from a vice president role at ConvaTec Group, where she was instrumental in floating the $1.7bn business on the London Stock Exchange in 2016.

“I was impressed with both the energy at the office and the ethical values at Clicky that stem from the leadership,” commented Lewis. “I have the opportunity to help this dynamic company grow and flourish, and I’m looking forward to seeing where the journey takes us.”

Vungle promotes Bondy to COO
Jeremy Bondy has been handed the newly created role of chief operating officer at Vungle, a performance marketing platform for in-app video ads on mobile devices. The promotion coincides with Blackstone’s completed acquisition of the company.

Bondy, who has been at Vungle since 2014, will continue to oversee global revenue and Vungle Creative Labs, while ensuring operational excellence across the business.

“Jeremy is a seasoned and trusted leader who consistently delivers results,” said Vungle chief executive officer Rick Tallman. “Jeremy’s sales and operational leadership have been instrumental to our rapid, profitable growth over the past five years. I look forward to working closely with him in his new role as we continue to expand our company and better serve our customers.”

Wray and Graham take places on Tonik+ executive team
Tonik+, a video intelligence and editing solution, has named Lauren Wray as chief revenue officer and Chris Graham as chief product officer and general manager.

Wray will oversee key sales and marketing initiatives for company including strategy development, account management, pricing, forecasting, resource planning and budgeting. Prior to joining Tonik+, she led media and content domain sales, growth and strategy at Kantar. Before that, she directed the national sales team and played an essential role in the extensive growth of the business at Sharethrough. She started her career at Forbes Media.

“Lauren is a seasoned leader who brings a wealth of experience in sales and customer acquisition,” said Morgan Harris, founder & CEO of Tonik+. “She understands the needs of our business and how to effectively develop successful strategies that generate revenue. We are excited to welcome Lauren and her passion for quickly growing startups to the TONIK+ team.”

Graham will oversee technology, creative, and data science teams at Tonik+. Most recently, he oversaw the development of HYFN8 from concept through launch, monetisation, growth, and exit, creating and managing teams including analytics, ad operations, client services, product management, sales engineering, and marketing. He went on to found Noname Ventures and ZeroBaseOne.

“Chris brings an exceptional knowledge bank of technology, startup and media brand development to the Tonik+ executive team, and has been a consistent catalyst for operational excellence throughout his career,” said Harris. “We’re so thrilled that he chose to join us on our journey of growth, and vertical expansion this year. With the addition of both Lauren and Chris, our top-notch leadership team is stronger than ever.”

Channel Factory makes senior hires across Europe.
Idan Shuklin, Kasper Jensen, Ajay Daved, Mark Butt, and Juliet McCutcheon have all joined YouTube content alignment firm Channel Factory in various capacities across Europe.

Shuklin arrives as business development partner, EU/CEE. Bringing over 20 years of experience across eCommerce, software product and brand development, he was most recently eCommerce director for Europe at Chubb Limited. He will be tasked with creating and launching Channel Factory’s Central and Eastern European operations.

Jensen joins as sales manager for Denmark, bringing 15 years of digital media and management experience. He will be responsible for developing and activating a road map of clients for Channel Factory in the Danish market. Most recently, he was head of sales at Smartclip.

Daved, boasting 16 years of digital experience, will manage strategic partnerships across EMEA. He previously worked for DoubleClick and Google, and has held leadership roles at PowerLinks, Tremor, RhythmOne, and AppNexus.

Butt will work as strategic business development consultant in the UK, having a remit to develop partnerships with key agencies and brands. With more than 20 years’ experience in commercial strategy, mergers & acquisitions, media buying, programmatic technology and ad operations, he was managing director of Eyeconomy before launching Seventures Lab.

Last but by no means least, McCutcheon takes on the role of key accounts manager in the UK. Joining from her role as sales manager at Amobee EMEA, she will be working closely with the UK agencies, driving awareness of Channel Factory’s solution, and developing the UK roadmap.

“We are excited to welcome Ajay, Mark and Juliet to the UK team to further service brands and agencies across the UK,” said Mattias Spetz, EU managing director at Channel Factory. “We are delighted to announce the launch of the Danish office and appointment of Kasper to build the business in Denmark and deliver a truly localised offering. We are also pleased to open our office in Russia and welcome Idan to lead Central and Eastern European operations for Channel Factory.”

Three leadership changes at Starmind
AI SaaS company Starmind has appointed Stefan Gass as chief marketing officer & head of growth and Eric Storm as vice president of sales, Americas, while promoting Adrian Schlund as chief revenue officer.

Gass will lead all marketing, inside sales, customer success and community functions. He will focus on Starmind`s accelerated go to market, product-led growth and global scaling strategies. He brings over two decades of experience leading high-growth teams at venture-backed SaaS companies like Veeam and scaling teams into new markets at BCG, Microsoft and Oracle.

“Starmind is paving the way in defining a new category, which is a natural evolution in the future of work as every large corporation today is going through fundamental shifts in their workforce,” said Gass. “Our neural networks are helping enterprises harness human intelligence to unlock productivity and competitive advantages while facilitating knowledge-sharing and growth. Our customers have a significant opportunity to transform in the way they tap into their most valuable asset – human knowledge – and I am excited to help them realize that.”

Storm will lead Starmind’s expansion into the US market, focused on enterprise businesses. He joins from Citrix, where he was one of the key enterprise US sales leaders.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Stefan and Eric to Starmind,” explained Oliver Muhr, CEO at Starmind. “Each bring unrivalled experience working at both high-growth startups and large-scale enterprises, as well as impressive track records in growing companies and creating new categories in enterprise software.”

Tag brings in Vidler as Europe boss
Andria Vidler has been hired as EMEA chief executive officer by Tag, a creative production and sourcing partner to brands and agencies. Reporting to global CEO David Kassler, she will officially start her new role in January 2020.

Vidler has spent the past six years as CEO of Centaur Media PLC, which she transformed into a business intelligence, data and event group primarily focused on the marketing sector. She was responsible for setting strategy, driving financial performance, overseeing operational improvement and delivering cultural change.

Before Centaur, Vidler spent four years as CEO for EMI Music UK & Ireland and has held senior roles at Magic Radio-Emap, Bauer Media and at the BBC. She is also a trustee for Media Trust and a non-executive for Gamesys PLC.

“Having worked at the heart of the marketing and media sector for over 25 years, I fully understand the appeal of Tag’s compelling proposition as a creative production and strategic sourcing partner,” commented Vidler. “More than ever, brands need trusted, independent partners with capability and scale to help them navigate the complex and ever-changing demand for content across all media channels. This is exactly what Tag is built for and why it is well-positioned for growth. Im excited to continue to drive the success of its business across EMEA.”

Barclay and Wagner arrive at Synup
Synup, an intent marketing cloud, has selected Margie Barclay as senior vice president of client services and Brett Wagner as vice president of enterprise sales.

A 22-year veteran of the technology space, Barclay served as vice president of sales and customer experience at Contently before joining Synup. She also served in senior leadership roles at TapClicks, YP.com and Advance Publications.

“The future of marketing is going to be about giving customers the right information at the right time, based on purchase intent. That’s why I’m so excited to be joining Synup,” Barclay said. “Consumer behaviour is changing rapidly, and the Synup Intent Marketing Cloud is in the perfect position to drive outcomes that truly help our customers’ bottom lines.”

Wagner joins Synup after serving as APAC general manager at Movable Ink, where he helped drive sales. He has also overseen growth at LiveIntent and Bomoda, where he held leadership roles in sales and revenue.

“When scaling a company, I’ve always put the customer at the centre of my efforts. That’s the true key to client retention and growth, and that’s why I’m excited to be joining a like-minded organization like Synup,” Wagner said. “The company’s expansion plans are ambitious, and they’re mapped out in a way that will not only expand the company’s customer base, but also make existing customers happier than ever.”