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.

Kumar gets gig to lead on Walmart’s technology and development
Walmart has appointed Suresh Kumar to the elevated chief technology officer and chief development officer role. Reporting directly to president and CEO Doug McMillon, he joins to help the retail giant to continue transforming its customer and associate experiences.

Kumar was most recently at Google, serving as vice president and general manager of display, video, app ads and analytics. Prior to Google, he was the corporate vice president of Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure and operations. Kumar spent 15 years at Amazon in various leadership roles, including vice president of technology for retail systems and operations, and he led Amazon’s retail supply chain and inventory management systems. Before Amazon, he was a research staff member at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Centre.

“Walmart is one of the great success stories in how a company evolves over time to serve the changing needs of its customers, and today, it is in the midst of a very exciting digital transformation,” said Kumar. “With more than 11,000 stores, a high-growth eCommerce business and more than two million associates worldwide, the potential for technology to help people at scale is unparalleled, and I am excited to be part of this.”

OpenX makes a pair of regional senior hires
Programmatic ad tech firm OpenX has hired Andrew Tu as managing director and Cheryl Tan as account director in Asia-Pacific as part of an expansion in the region.

Tu brings more than two decades of experience with him, having launched and scaled global digital and ad tech ventures across APAC. Prior to OpenX, he was The Trade Desk’s first hire in APAC, where he grew the business from ground zero to six offices and a team of over 30. Before that, he co-founded and launched Eyeota, and also launched and expanded Brandscreen.

“OpenX has built a reputation as the highest quality exchange in advertising, and after being on the ground for six months, it’s clear to me that OpenX is meeting a need in the APAC market that no other programmatic exchange can fill,” said Tu. “With a strongly differentiated technical foundation in the cloud, and a disruptive and innovative product pipeline that is unlike anything else in the market today, we are ramping and scaling our business like never before, and we’ll be dramatically increasing the number of partners we have in the region over the coming months.”

Tan joins OpenX from LinkedIn, where she championed the use of programmatic buying on LinkedIn both internally and externally, working with agencies, programmatic buyers and internal stakeholders to drive revenue. Before LinkedIn, she helped grow the digital ad operations efforts of Microsoft and Wego.com in Singapore.

Williams joins Location Sciences as non-exec director
Donald “Donnie” Williams has been appointed as a non-executive director at Location Sciences, a location verification provider, with immediate effect.

Williams has worked at Horizon Media for almost 13 years, serving at the company’s chief digital officer since 2010. He has been instrumental in expanding Horizons digital capabilities, including its performance media services division, as well as its digital experiences practice, and manages a team of more than 300 digital experts in both the New York and Los Angeles offices. Prior to his time at Horizon, he worked at Ignited USA and Carat Global.

“The Board is delighted that Donnie has agreed to join Location Sciences as a non-executive director,” said Mark Slade, Location Sciences CEO. “He brings substantial expertise and knowledge of the US media industry and, in particular, how large US agencies operate. This is an exciting hire for us and we are very much looking forward to working with him as we build Verifys presence throughout the US.”

Omnicom welcomes Tarlowe as treasurer
Rochelle Tarlowe has been named as senior vice president and treasurer at Omnicom Group, succeeding the recently retired Dennis Hewitt. She will be responsible for managing Omnicoms global treasury and risk management function, reporting to chief financial officer Phil Angelastro.

Tarlowe joins Omnicom from Avis Budget Group, where she was senior vice president and treasurer. In addition to managing the companys global $13 billion capital structure, she was responsible for risk management, evaluation of agency relationships, hedging strategies and cash management. Prior to her 15 years at Avis, she served as vice president, senior analyst at Moody’s Investors Services.

“Omnicom is a consistent leader in a dynamic and rapidly changing industry,” said Tarlowe. “I am excited to be joining such a strong financial team and look forward to contributing to the companys continued success.”

Martin arrives at Criteo to lead retail media
Criteo, an internet advertising company, has hired Geoffroy Martin as executive vice president and general manager of retail media. Based in Paris and reporting to COO Mollie Spilman, he will spearhead the firm’s retail media business acceleration.

Prior to joining Criteo, Martin was a private consultant with a focus on growth strategies and innovation. From 2004 to 2015, he held multiple positions at Art.com, including COO and CEO.

“As one of Criteo’s first US customers, I have always known how much value Criteo has to its clients,” said Martin. “As retailers work to engage shoppers at every stage of the purchase funnel, and to strengthen their relationships with their brand partners, Criteo Retail Media is becoming more and more critical in the industry landscape. In my new role, I am eager to build on its initial success and drive value for all of Criteo’s retail and brand clients through best in class solutions and strategic counsel.”

NativeX chooses Zaccaro to lead Brazil office
Carolina Zaccaro has been appointed as sales director of NativeX new Latin America-focused office in Brazil.

Zaccaro’s previous positions include demand-side platform Jampp, where she was a senior sales manager of its LATAM and Spain division. She has over 11 years of marketing and sales experience in the advertising and marketing industry, having previously held positions at Taboola, Teads and Mercado Livre.

“Carolina brings a wealth of experience and know-how to NativeX,” said Tiffany Ou, general manager at NativeX. “Her understanding of the LATAM market will be key as we quickly build out our ability to generate the huge user acquisition numbers in the region, to serve the rapidly increasing demand for effective and affordable app marketing campaigns.”

Trio of leadership changes made at Mobica
Mobica, a global software services company, has made its current executive chairman, Simon Wilkinson, permanent CEO. Meanwhile, Richard Haywood has taken up the role of chairman and Stefan Maxreiter has been appointed chief operating officer.

Wilkinson joined Mobica’s board of directors in March 2017 and has helped strengthen the company’s customer footprint with international brands including Google, Facebook, Intel, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Arm, and Jaguar Land Rover.

“This is such an exciting period of growth for Mobica and I feel the time is right for me to take a full-time strategic role, leading our team to realise the vision of doubling the size of our engineering organisation which will support us in expanding our engagements with a series of leading international brands including multiple Silicon Valley household names and leading car manufacturers,” said Wilkinson.

Haywood, who takes up his seat on the board alongside Wilkinson, holds a number of advisory and non-executive roles within the technology and legal sectors. He is also chairman of Clarilis Limited and a non-executive director of Asterisk Network Solutions Limited.

“I am delighted to be joining the team at Mobica at such an exciting time,” said Haywood. “The company has an impressive customer base and is carrying out world-class innovative work with a total commitment to helping customers achieve their business goals. I am really looking forward to working with the team.”

Maxreiter will be responsible for further developing Mobica’s software delivery capabilities globally. He brings more than 25 years’ experience of building and managing teams within global organisations, 17 of which have been spent within the automotive and services sector. He was previously a senior director in automotive, for both Luxoft and Wind River, and served as a board director at the GENIVI Alliance.

“Mobica works with some of the world’s leading organisations in some of the most exciting areas of technology being pioneered today,” said Maxreiter. “I’m looking forward to strengthening relationships with our existing customers and building new ones across our key sectors.”

Stickyeyes makes management reshuffle
Digital and content marketing agency Stickyeyes has made Glen Conybeare managing director and Phil Kissane group managing director of the wider Stickeyes Group, which includes both Stickyeyes and Zazzle Media.

“Stickyeyes growth has continued to be very strong, with double digit revenue increases for the last five years, down in no small part to our amazing team’s ability to respond to clients’ needs and diversify,” said Conybeare, who was previously Stickyeyes’ chief commercial officer. “We’ve seen continued growth in the services we are perhaps best known for, SEO and Biddable Media, but also phenomenal growth in our Life Sciences division, design and development, content and PR and Demand Generation departments which are all contributing seven figure revenue numbers individually. We’re proud to say that Stickyeyes is truly a full-service digital agency.”

Alongside the changes in management, the company has launched a standalone offering called ‘Life Sciences by Stickyeyes’. This offering, led by Leo Law, is dedicated to delivering digital marketing services within the regulated environment of pharmaceutical and life sciences.

“In Life Sciences by Stickyeyes, we aim to transfer this innovative digital thinking from retail, FMCG and finance [and others] and apply this to the demands of regulated markets,” said Law. “We’ve got the expertise and scale of the IPG Network and the agility and fresh-thinking of a new agency set-up. We’re excited about what we can achieve for clients by shaking up the service on offer and creating a new benchmark for what digital marketing in pharma can be.”

Dashlane brings in Howard to lead marketing
Joy Howard has joined Dashlane, a password manager app, as its chief marketing officer. she will oversee the global marketing function, as well as all policy related initiatives, at the company.

Howard joins Dashlane from Lyft, where she currently serves as chief marketing officer. She has previously held leadership positions at Sonos, Patagonia, Nike, and Coca-Cola.

“For years the tech community has maintained that people don’t care enough about their digital security to invest in real protection,” said Howard. “We don’t believe that this is true. Rather, people care deeply about protecting their digital identities, but lacked the right tool. Dashlane is a powerful yet simple tool that empowers users to control their digital identities. I look forward to helping them build a world class brand and company. We’re committed to helping everyone take back control of their digital identities.” 

In addition to Howard’s appointment, Dashlane has closed a $110m series D funding round led by Sequoia Capital. The funding will see Jim Goetz of Sequoia joining Dashlane’s board of directors.

“While most people are not aware of the magnitude of these issues, an entire economy is booming and growing in sophistication around harvesting and weaponising stolen credentials, with participation from nation-states and cybercriminals,” said Goetz. “We believe this category has the potential to one day surpass anti-virus in size, and we are excited to partner with the emerging market leader as they create and grow the category.”