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.

Tzikakis takes to Sitecore helm
Customer experience management company Sitecore has named Steve Tzikakis as its Chief Executive Officer. Effective immediately, he takes over from Mark Frost, who will continue as an advisor to the company.

A 13-year veteran of global enterprise application software company SAP, Tzikakis spent the last five years as President of SAPs South Europe, Middle East, and Africa region.

“I am very excited to join Sitecore, the category leader in the end-to-end digital experience space, especially at a time of such monumental change,” said Tzikakis. “Our customers and partners can expect to see us accelerate our global expansion plans and innovation of more market-leading cloud and SaaS solutions, while further increasing our customer centric DNA.”

Genesys turns to Swartz to lead on finance
Brian Swartz has been hired as the Chief Financial Officer at Genesys, a cloud customer experience solution provider. He will oversee all financial aspects of the company, including financial planning and analysis, accounting and financial reporting, tax, treasury and internal audit, as well as its sourcing, facilities and information technology organisations.

Swartz arrives at Genesys from Cornerstone OnDemand, where he was CFO since 2016. Prior to Cornerstone, he served as CFO for Zulily and, before that, was CFO at Apollo Education Group.

“Its truly an exciting time to join Genesys as the company drives the contact centre market forward on the cloud transformation journey,” Swartz said. “The company has enormous opportunity to disrupt the industry by making it possible for any organization to forge deeper connections with customers so they can finally deliver on the promise of personalization and elevate the overall customer experience.”

Brown promoted to take charge of audience measurement at Nielsen
Nielsen, a measurement and data analytics firm, has elevated Scott Brown to the role of General Manager of Audience Management. In this new role, he will continue to innovate Nielsens measurement products and ultimately drive the unification of linear TV, advanced TV and digital solutions.

Previously, Brown served as Chief Technology Officer for Nielsens measurement products. In that role, he led the technical implementation of its measurement products across mobile, computer and connected TVs including the migration of its infrastructure to the cloud.

“Marketers and publishers want to understand their audience across all platforms in a simple way. They want to understand where the true incremental reach comes from and how different platforms and services perform to ultimately help inform both advertising strategies as well as program and content decisioning,” said Brown. “Nielsen has historically measured media types and platforms independently.  However, as convergence across all media types continue, the industry will require a single methodology for a holistic view that captures how digital, connected TV and other platforms perform alongside linear TV.  This is the holy grail.”

Malwarebytes expands customer-focused leadership
Kelly Hall, Jennifer Mullin, and Kirstin Hornby have all joined cybersecurity company Malwarebytes.

Hall joins as Vice President of Customer Success, coming to the company from Vision Critical, where she served as Chief Customer Officer, leading the post-sales experience including everything from support to education and customer experience. At Malwarebytes, she will create new tools to maximise value realisation for the company’s customers.

Mullin, Vice President of Product Marketing & Customer Insights, will lead product marketing, communications, and insights. She started her career at Gap, before joining the internet revolution early by leading the product team for search, directory for Infoseek (acquired by Disney). She was also an early employee at Evite.com and led global marketing for LeapFrog, helping the company go public. Mullin led the Digital Lab at VF Corporation before joining Malwarebytes.

Hornby arrives as Vice President of Growth Marketing, where she will lead the growth marketing organisation, including online and performance marketing and retention/lifecycle marketing. She joins Malwarebytes from Rakuten, where she was Vice President of Marketing and Customer Service for the marketplace division. She has worked across a variety of industries, with a focus on consumer digital marketing, including marketing leadership roles at PayPal, Gap, Polyvore, and Yahoo.

“This year has been one of decisive change for Malwarebytes to create more value and serve our customers better – and position the company for long-term growth,” said Marcin Kleczynski, CEO and Co-founder of Malwarebytes. “We continue to attract new talent into the company in order to help us attain these goals and I am thrilled to welcome Kelly, Jennifer, and Kirstin to the team. These incredible leaders bring a consistent, customer-driven mindset and expertise that will be critical to accelerating our growth in the coming years.”

Wolberg takes seat on CalAmp board
Telematics firm CalAmp has announced that Kirsten Wolberg has been appointed to its Board of Directors.

Wolberg is currently Chief Technology & Operations Officer as DocuSign. Previously, she worked at PayPal, where she held several roles, including Vice President of Technology and was the principal executive leading the PayPal separation program as part of the eBay/PayPal tax-free split. She also led Salesforce IT as Chief Information Officer. Additionally, she held several technology, product and operations roles at companies such as Charles Schwab, InnoVentry, and CSC Index.

“I am honoured to have the opportunity to join CalAmps Board of Directors, and be part of this journey,” said Wolberg. “I look forward to driving CalAmps continued growth and digital transformation for our partners and customers worldwide.”

Criteo announces Board changes
Megan Clarken, who is the company’s Chief Executive Officer, has been added to the Board of Directors at internet advertising company Criteo. The appointment follows the decision Jean-Baptiste Rudelle, Criteo’s Co-founder and former CEO, to step down from the Board.

“Over the years, Criteo has built very valuable assets,” said Rudelle. “I wish Megan and the team all the success to write the next chapter of this great company.”

Hardisty takes on CTO role at Eyeo
Eyeo, the makers of Adblock Plus, has selected Stephen Hardisty as its Chief Technology Officer. He will work closely with CEO and Founder Till Faida and COO Jutta Horstmann.

“We are very happy that we could convince Stephen Hardisty to join us as eyeo’s new CTO and look forward to having him shape the company’s tech vision and strategy,” said Horstmann. “We are convinced that the strong technical background and leadership experience he gained at companies like Etsy, Rocket Internet and ImmoScout24 make him a perfect choice for this position and that he is exactly what eyeo needs at this point.”

Former CTO Felix Dahlke has left to take up the role of CTO at PolyPoly, while the company’s CFO, Steffan Kiedel, has also left to work on his own business. Kiedel’s responsibilities will be taken over by Thomas Schenkelberg, Vice President of Finance.

Takumi opts for Meadows to lead new creative division
Jim Meadows has been appointed Chief Strategy Officer at Takumi, putting him in position to lead the company’s creator-first influencer marketing division, Takumi X.

Meadows has managed social media content for brands including Virgin Media, Redbull and British Red Cross and, previously, co-founded specialist agency Commit.

“I have admired Takumi’s campaign content for many years and am so pleased to be joining this organization at such a pivotal point,” said Meadows. “Takumi has paved the way in the influencer marketing industry, and we are looking forward to guiding clients to uplevel their marketing with more realistic, authentic, diverse and culturally relevant content than ever before through Takumi X.”

Fuller added to Lewis Board
Marketing agency Lewis has appointed Andrea Fuller to its Advisory Board. She will provide advice and share insight with the LEWIS team on an ongoing basis.

Fuller, who was most recently Vice President of Communications at Citrine Informatics, has over two decades of marketing and communications experience working with consumer and B2B brands.

“I have always valued my relationship with the company and am truly honoured to accept this appointment. I look forward to leveraging my years of experience to help Lewis drive the marketing industry forward,” said Fuller.

Pubguard appoints Curran and Ngai to leadership roles
Andy Curran has been named Chief Executive Officer and Alan Ngai as Chief Operating Officer at Pubguard, a malvertising platform subsidiary of Bidstack.

Curran will focus on positioning the company as the most agile platform to respond to the evolving threat landscape. He joins Pubguard’s leadership team from Bidstack, where he was Head of Growth and responsible for scaling up and aligning the development and commercial teams within the group.

“Pubguard is one of the most recognised companies in its space and has brought great value to Bidstack’s in-game offering since the acquisition last year,” Curran commented. “The company has now been fully integrated into the group, ready for a relaunch, and this coupled with the recent shift in market dynamics means now is the perfect time to ramp up and scale to fulfil  its massive potential for growth.”

Ngai will lead on Pubguard’s day to day operations and business growth. In tandem, he will continue to lead the programmatic product development side of Bidstack’s in-game offering.

“Having worked in ad tech for almost 10 years, the Pubguard role is a unique opportunity to help tackle an ongoing issue that has plagued the industry since I started working in the programmatic space. I’m excited to be a part of this company’s future successes,” Ngai said.

Justin Wenczka, Pubguard Founder, will be stepping into an advisory role as he explores new opportunities.

Sanford takes charge of data science at GTB
GTB, a communications agency owned by WPP, has hired Marc Sanford as its Global Chief Data Science Officer. He will oversee a data and analytics team that spans six continents and over 50 offices worldwide.

Sanford brings 20 years of data, analytics and technology experience to the role. Prior to this appointment, Sanford was Senior Vice President of Consumer Insights and Analytics at Wunderman Thompson. Here, he helped create the first fully automated analytics approach and build the companys AI division, working across many brands, including T-Mobile, Microsoft, Japan Airlines, and Adidas. Prior to that role, Sanford led the business analytics team at Zillow.

“Putting data at the centre of everything we do is essential to have the deepest understanding of the consumer. Human behaviour is the best signal for understanding what, how and when to communicate effectively with consumers in ways that provide a competitive advantage. Were excited to have Marc help lead that charge in this newly created role,” said Robert Guay, Global Chief Executive Officer at GTB.

4A’s Foundation adds five to Board
Walter Geer III, Executive Creative Director of Experience Design at VMLY&R; Vann Graves, Executive Director of the Brandcenter at Virginia Commonwealth University; Ashley McGowen, Global Lead for Business Equality at Facebook; Sara Porritt, Senior Director of Integrated Media Planning and US Diversity and Inclusion Lead at OMD; and Renee Jennings, Chief Financial Officer at Joan Creative, have all joined the Board of Directors at the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s) Foundation.

“The 4As Foundation has always been committed to driving diversity, equity and inclusion across the advertising and marketing industry. The appointment of these five incredible leaders will further strengthen our team as we continue to advocate for change and advance our mission of building an industry that is truly as diverse as the populations we serve. We are thrilled to welcome Walter, Vann, Renee, Sara and Ashley to our Board,” said Simon Fenwick, Executive Vice President of Talent, Equity & Inclusion at the 4A’s Foundation.