Movers & Shakers: Kony, Xaxis, Publicitas and Spirent

The mobile marketing industry is ever-changing, and that applies to the people as much as the technology. Movers & Shakers is a regular feature following the hottest hires in the industry, so you can keep track of whos joined which company, and what theyre doing there.

Movers Shakers
(From left to right) Bill Bodin, Harry Harcus, Andy Vogel

Kony Hires Master Inventor Bodin from IBM
IBM CTO of mobile computing Bill Bodin has joined enterprise mobility firm Kony as its new mobility market, and shaping Kony’s technology vision and future product roadmap. He will also lead the company’s technology evangelism efforts.

Bodin brings more than 30 years of technology industry experience to Kony. Most recently, he served as CTO for IBM’s Mobile Computing CIO group. He was both a distinguished engineer and a recognised master inventor at IBM, and holds numerous patents in domains including Mobility, Operating Systems, Media, Telematics, Consumer Electronics and Healthcare.

Prior to joining Kony, Bodin created and deployed IBM’s mobile ecosystem, delivering mobile capabilities to IBMs customers and employees and creating a reference implementation of IBM products and services.
Bodin is also the creator and thought leader for IBM Catalyst, the mobile development accelerator framework (CIO100 2015 award winner). He was a member of the IBM Academy of Technology and Academy Leadership Team and also represented the CIO organisation in the Center for Innovation Leadership (CIL), championing innovation and invention in the IBM Corporation.

“Bill is an extremely well-respected technology visionary leader with an incredible reputation and depth of knowledge and expertise in the enterprise mobility space,” said Dave Shirk, president of products, strategy and marketing at Kony. “He is not only a technical thought leader when it comes to mobile, but has a strong track record of helping businesses take full advantage of mobile transformation.”

Harcus Takes UK MD Role at Xaxis
Programmatic trading desk Xaxis has appointed GroupM veteran, Harry Harcus as Managing Director, UK. Harcus will be responsible for leading the Xaxis UK business, including driving the growth of Xaxis’ performance business, Light Reaction, and its native advertising unit, plista. He succeeds Nicolas Bidon, who was recently promoted to global CEO of plista.

Prior to joining Xaxis, Harcus spent five years in a range of senior positions within GroupM, joining the company in 2011 as digital operations director. During this time, he built a new Digital Operations business unit in the UK, tasked with the implementation of new technologies and the adoption of optimal business processes across GroupM’s media agencies. In his most recent position, Harcus played a key role in the creation of GroupM Connect and was responsible for programmatic buying media operations for GroupM in 2014.

Digital Brief for Vogel at Publicitas
Andy Vogel has joined media and ad services company Publicitas as its head of global digital product. He will be responsible for developing and implementing new digital marketing strategy and products, working across all global regions.

Vogel brings with him more than 20 years’ experience in the development of marketing and revenue strategies for new and emerging businesses.In the US, he has worked at C-level for brands, agencies and media outlets including ADP, cars.com, Gannett, the LA Times and Tribune. He has also been on the N. American Board of the Mobile Marketing Association, the Board of the IAB’s Mobile Center of Excellence, and Google’s Publisher Advisory Board.

Rasuo to Head Up Spirents Embedded IoT Division
Spirent Communications has appointed Dejan Rasuo to the role of vice president of its Internet of Things (IoT) Connectivity and Subscription Management business. In his new role, Rasuo will lead the sales and business development of Spirent’s Embedded IoT Connectivity and Subscription Management Cloud, which enables universal connectivity on devices to unlock the vast revenue potential of IoT.

Rasuo began his career with embedded security software company Oberthur Technologies and held various positions in his 11-year tenure with the firm, first as an area sales manager and ultimately telecom business director for Central & Eastern European markets. He then earned his start-up credentials with mobile multimedia content aggregation and delivery service provider Go Live as chief sales officer. He subsequently joined mobile solutions company Oasis Smart SIM as European and Americas general manager.