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 adds Bendiek to Executive Board
Sabine Bendiek has been appointed to join the SAP Executive Board as Chief of People Officer and Labour Director. Starting in early 2021, she will lead the Human Resources organization and people strategy for SAP. This includes attracting the best talent in the industry, providing a growth and learning environment for employees, and ensuring a consistent leadership culture to enable inclusion, accountability and agility.

Bendiek is currently Microsoft Germany Management Board Chairwoman. At Microsoft, she oversaw an increase in cloud growth of 50 per cent in 2020. She also drove the move of the business to the cloud, which significantly contributed to Microsofts strong position in Germany. Prior to Microsoft, she held various roles at companies including Nixdorf, Siemens Nixdorf, McKinsey, Earlybird Venture Capital, Dell, and EMC. Bendiek is a member of the supervisory board at Schaeffler.

“SAP is recognized throughout the industry as a growth company and its people are crucial to its ongoing success,” said Bendiek. “In any successful organization, business growth and the people strategy must work hand in hand. I thank the SAP Supervisory Board and Executive Board for putting their full trust in me to lead the people and operations functions that are the heart of SAPs ongoing transformation.”

Tomlinson added to team at Three
Mobile network Three UK has hired Mike Tomlinson as its Managing Director of Business. In the newly created role, he will develop Three’s B2B presence in the UK, building on its SME offer announced in 2019 and its established private networks division.

Tomlinson has a wealth of experience in the telecoms industry, having previously held roles at EE, Virgin, and BT. Most recently, he advised tech and telecoms firms on the broader B2B market.

“I’m delighted to be joining Three and I’m excited by the opportunity to scale our growing business division,” said Tomlinson. “Businesses of all sizes need a resilient network partner and the major technology investments that the company is making make Three the perfect choice.”

Alongside Tomlinson’s arrival, John Dunican has taken on an expanded role of director of MVNO and Carrier Services for Three UK Ireland, having been Head of Wholesale at Three Ireland since January 2017.

MMA selects Griesser to direct Germany
Katja Griesser has been named as the Mobile Marketing Association’s (MMA) Germany Country Director. She follows Daniel Rieber, who initiated the chapter together with Chairman Mark Wächter in 2016.

Griesser is a marketing and media expert with 16 years of industry experience. She started her professional career with Sky Deutschland being responsible for Marketing Partnerships along with international e-commerce projects. In 2009, Griesser joined Telefónica Germany as General Manager for netzclub.net. Later, she was promoted to Global Head of Sponsored Data, becoming responsible for developing all sponsored mobile products in Europe and Latin America.

“Mobile Marketing has become increasingly dynamic and complex and it’s hard to be on top of every digital discipline,” commented Griesser. “The MMA is the platform which unites the most influential and relevant brands, marketing professionals, and tech providers globally, who exchange their insights and know-how. This helps the members significantly to make fact-based and better decisions on important marketing questions.”

Green takes up senior marketing role at Teespring
Social commerce platform Teespring has chosen Les Green as its Vice President of Marketing. He will use his expertise to continue the company’s development as a leading platform which empowers and enables creators to develop their personal brands and engage with their fans.

Green moves to Teespring from his previous roles as Nike Africa’s Marketing Director, and Global Brand Director for Nike Sportswear. His time at Nike also saw him relaunch Nike’s customisation service, Nike By You (formerly NikeiD), as Senior Marketing Director.

“The future of commerce will be social,” said Green. “We already see that content and culture have moved to being primarily driven by social media so it’s inevitable that commerce will follow suit. I am excited to move to a company unrivalled in the space – where any relevant creator can scale their influence in almost any arena and reap more of the benefits by connecting directly to their fans.”

Criteo names Glickman as CFO
Sarah Glickman has joined internet advertising company Criteo as Chief Financial Officer. She will serve as both Criteos principal financial officer and principal accounting officer, and will replace Dave Anderson, who served as interim Chief Financial Officer for four months.

Glickman brings 30 years of global finance and transformation experience to Criteo. She most recently served as Acting Chief Financial Officer for 20 months at XPO Logistics. There, she oversaw the execution of a comprehensive restructuring program, expanded global shared services, and optimised finance processes and systems. Before that, she held operational Chief Financial Officer roles at Novartis and Honeywell International.

“Its an exciting time to join Criteo. I have immense respect for everything Criteo has been able to achieve as a global leader in advertising technology,” said Glickman. “I look forward to working alongside this talented leadership team to continue to grow and transform the business.”

Qian takes charge of Kwalee’s business dev in China
Mobile game publisher Kwalee has selected Penny Qian as the Head of Business Development in its new China-based office. Her experience includes roles at AppLift, Tencent, and Applovin.

Qian, and the Beijing office, will work alongside Kwalee’s existing team in the UK and India. The focus of Kwalee China will be on business development, marketing, and third-party publishing.

“Having worked in the games industry for over three years, primarily within mobile, I’ve long been an admirer of Kwalee and their amazing growth in the hypercasual space,” said Qian. “When the opportunity arose to be a part of this success story and to help the business really grow in China, I couldn’t turn it down. I’m looking forward to using what I know and my connections to really help grow Kwalee in China, and can’t wait to see the great games that come out of this as a result.”

iRobot opts for Smith as CMO
Kiran Smith has taken up the role of Chief Marketing Officer at iRobot, the robotics company behind the famous Roomba vacuum. She will help guide iRobot through an exciting period of growth and transformation as they look to evolve the brand to be synonymous with seamless, personalised digital experiences, and develop a more personal relationship with consumers.

Smith was most recently CEO of Arnold Worldwide. Before Arnold, she held several brand marketing leadership roles at Brookstone, Stride Rite, and two of the largest supermarket chains in the US. Earlier in her career, she held leadership positions at Accenture and Alliance Consulting Group.

West to lead development at Access
Access, an integrated marketing and digital agency, has hired Mark West as its Head of Development.

West leaves CTi Digital after seven years, where he held senior positions including Head of Drupal, Head of Support and Digital Consultant. Before this, he was a lead Drupal developer at TalkTalk and web executive at Carphone Warehouse.

“I am looking forward to this exciting new challenge and the opportunity to nurture the burgeoning development team here at Access,” said West. “Im keen to bring my experience of production practices and processes into the agency, to ensure we continue to offer agile, high quality delivery as we grow to meet ever-increasing client demands.”

Fingerpaint elevates Bartolomeo and O’Malley
Nick Bartolomeo has been promoted to Head of Media and Performance Marketing, and Bryan O’Malley lifted to Head of Technology and Performance Innovation, at Fingerpaint, a health and wellness-focused marketing agency.

The pair will co-lead the newly formed Shift Performance Center of Excellence, which will focus on driving brand performance through a proprietary mix of big data, best-in-class technologies, and highly skilled industry experts. Bartolomeo and O’Malley will be responsible for promoting and expanding the capabilities of Shift Performance, as well as continuing to cultivate the team and its expertise.

“I am looking forward to working alongside Bryan to drive the vision for Fingerpaint’s Shift Performance Center of Excellence and build upon the proven success we’ve demonstrated for nearly five years,” said Bartolomeo.

“We’re bringing together the best of human expertise and cutting-edge technologies to address our client’s toughest business challenges,” O’Malley added. “I’m excited to be co-leading Fingerpaint’s Shift Performance Center of Excellence with Nick.”

Mitra arrives to lead client servicing at Blink
Full-service digital agency Blink Digital has named Ratnapriya Mitra as its Vice President of Client Services. She will oversee fulfilment of client goals and over success of the client portfolio at the agency.

Mitra is a practiced marketing professional with over 15 years of experience at companies such as the McCann Worldwide group, Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, J. Walter Thompson, and others.

“I’m enthused to join a team of such talented and hardworking people,” said Mitra. “Knowing that this is the team behind so many award-winning campaigns is a testimony to Blink’s dexterity that drives such meaningful work for our clients. I’m looking forward to driving more novel, creative solutions while ensuring we are at our efficient best.”

CHS welcomes four new faces
Communications and content agency CHS has recently appointed a flurry of new hires. It has enlisted Jessica Wicks as its Marketing Manager & Content Producer. Sophia Wareham, formerly of Beep! Digital, joins as a Senior Creative. Hannah Kent joins as a Junior Creative, and Kirsty Haville has joined as a Photographic Stylist, previously Creative Coup.