Movers & Shakers: Jaunt, Amobee, Adara, Vocalink, The Honest Company and Atomico
- Thursday, September 20th, 2018
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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.
Jaunt promotes Mitzi Reaugh to CEO
Virtual, augmented and mixed reality content solutions provider Jaunt has elevated Mitzi Reaugh to CEO, effective October 1st. Formerly vice president of global business development and strategy at the firm, Reaugh’s promotion comes as part of a series of senior personnel promotions as George Kliavkoff, former CEO, steps down to take a new position in the entertainment industry. Kliavkoff will remain as a member of the board of directors.
Reaugh has been a driving force behind the launch and growth of the Jaunt XR platform, a B2B solution that enables partners to distribute augmented, virtual and mixed reality assets through their own applications and channels. Over the past two years, she has worked closely with Kliavkoff and the executive leadership team, and was critical in developing and implementing the strategy that evolved Jaunt into a B2B-focused company. Prior to joining Jaunt, Reaugh has held roles at NBC Universal, where she was part of the team that formed and launched Hulu, Miramax and The Chernin Group.
“It continues to be a pleasure to work at Jaunt, driving the growth of this business, and I’m honoured to have been chosen by the board of directors to lead the company forward,” said Reaugh. “The future of content is immersive, and Jaunt will continue to deliver industry-leading production and technology that brings scale, impact and ease to our global partners.”
In addition to Reaugh, two other Jaunt executives have newly expanded roles. Dominic Collins moves from general manager of international to president of product engineering & international, overseeing all international efforts as well as product and engineering. David Moretti is being promoted to president for strategy and business development, responsible for overseeing the sales and business development teams, as well as the legal department.
Scott Ferber and Domenic Venuto take on new roles at Amobee
Following its recent acquisition of Videology’s assets, Amobee has made two executive appointments, including finding a new home for Scott Ferber, former CEO of Videology. Ferber will become chief innovation officer at Amobee, while Domenic Venuto, most recently general manager of IBM Watson’s consumer division and Watson advertising, comes onboard as chief operating officer at the firm.
Ferber boasts more than 20 years of senior leadership experience and is a proven technology innovator who has served as a leader in converging the TV and digital video advertising spaces. With Videology, he helped to build the industry’s most advanced software platform for connected TV and digital video. Prior to founding Videology, he co-founded Advertising.com, which was acquired by AOL, and he has also held key roles at Fortune 500 companies including Procter & Gamble and Capital One.
Venuto brings a 360-degree global perspective as well as more than 20 years of senior management experience in marketing technology to Amobee. In his role at IBM Watson, he helped create innovative predictive solutions for marketers that transformed machine-based insights into high impact solutions for marketers. Previously, he served as global president of data, technology & partnerships for Publicis Groupe-owned VivaKi, where he led all aspects of product development.
Travel data specialists Adara hire Curtis Nishijima to drive EMEA growth
Curtis Nishijima, former global chief operating officer at Amnet and global client consulting partner at Mediacom, is taking on the newly-created role of managing director for EMEA at Adara, the data solution for travel brands. Nishijima will be responsible for setting the vision, market development, and operations requirements across Adara EMEA. Throughout the region, he will be leading the strategic direction across Adara’s media, data co-op, insights and measurement solutions for top tourism organisations, travel brands and other firms in the travel vertical.
Nishijima brings a unique perspective to the company, having been a veteran on both the media owner and agency side. His global talent around delivering business outcomes for major clients like Burbery, Mondalez, Visit Britain, GSK, Sky and Bose will be hugely valuable when combined with the power of Adara’s Travel Data Co-Op. He will work alongside Brandon Meyers, chief revenue officer, based in Adara’s Palo Alto headquarters.
“I’m very excited to be joining Adara, which I’ve admired as a skilled digital operator and practitioner over the years,” said Nishijima. “Adara’s team is hugely passionate about delivering great solutions and with products which are admired across many categories, both endemic and non-endemic to the travel industry. I see a massive potential across all of Adara’s solutions and it’s a privilege to be a part of that ongoing growth story. I’m looking forward to being an active contributor in the leadership team as we continue to build on our successes.”
Vocalink appoints Andrew Buckley as executive vice president
Vocalink, a Mastercard company, has announced that Andrew Buckley is joining the firm as the new executive vice president for international product, marketing and communications. In this pivotal role, he will be accountable for defining and executing Vocalink’s global strategies and leading the product development, implementation and deployment of market-leading proprietary infrastructure and applications.
Over his five year tenure, Andrew has held various product leadership roles within Mastercard across Europe, Asia and the US, including debit, credit, prepaid, commercial insurances and rewards. This has culminated in his most recent role as executive vice president of global prepaid, where he managed the company’s market-leading prepaid business. Prior to joining Mastercard, Buckley held senior sales and technology roles with American Express, was a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, and held strategy, sales and marketing roles with major telecoms and IT companies.
“Joining Vocalink and the bank payments sector is an exciting new challenge for me after over 10 years in the cards industry,” said Buckley. “Vocalink is at the forefront of payments infrastructure development and I’m looking forward to joining a highly skilled and successful team in the UK, and supporting the growth of our innovative products and services globally.”
Shannon Pruitt revealed as new chief marketing officer at The Honest Company
The Honest Company, a leading brand in the natural baby, personal care and beauty categories, has announced that Shannon Pruitt, former president of The Story Lab and chief content officer at Carat, is taking on the role of chief marketing officer at the firm. She will oversee brand marketing, creative, content and marketing communications for the company.
Pruitt boasts extensive experience in the areas of integrated, omnichannel marketing, brand-building and innovative brand story creation. Her deep storytelling ability will help the company continue to connect with today’s modern consumers as it seeks to expand its business. Founded in 2012 by Jessica Alba and Chris Gavigan, The Honest Company initially specialised in the sale of eco-friendly nappies and other baby products, and has since diversified to include cosmetics, detergents and a variety of other household products.
“As we continue to focus our efforts on two categories where global consumers and retailers and demanding more natural offerings – baby and beauty – we know talent will continue to drive our company’s momentum and growth,” said Nick Vlahos, CEO of The Honest Company. “With her extensive marketing, brand building, digital and entertainment background, Pruitt will bring a fresh perspective to our company as we take our brand global.”
Atomico strengthens team with Twitter’s former head of people for EMEA
European venture capital firm Atomico has announced a series of new hires to its investment team, including Caroline Chayot, who previously led the HR team for EMEA at Twitter. She joins the company as a partner, and will work alongside existing partner Dan Hynes, former director of global staffing at Skype. While at Twitter, she supported the leadership team as it scaled the business from two to six markets, and grew the team from 80 based in London to 500 across the region.
Also joining Atomico are Irina Haivas from specialist healthcare investor GHO Captial Partners, who comes on board as principal; Annalise Dragic, who will serve as senior associate on Atomico’s investment team alongside new associates Luca Eisenstecken and Christina Fa; IR associate Gunita Bhasin, who joins from Deutsche Bank; and Eleanor Warnock, the firm’s new communication manager, who will work alongside head of communications Bryce Keane to raise the profile of the firm’s portfolio companies internationally.
“When Atomico started, very few people believed that Europe could product multiple billion-dollar companies,” said a spokesperson for Atomico. “Since then, there have been over 50. Now, more than ever, we believe with deepest conviction and a sense of pressing urgency that Europe has the right ingredients for far greater tech success in the decade to come. That’s why Atomic is strengthening our unique team model of experienced investors, founders, and operators with seven new hires across our Growth Acceleration, Investment, Communications and IR teams.”