People on the move: Hires and departures at Nike, Sky, Time, BBC and more

Nike has made moves to maintain its dominance in the footwear market according to reports that it has poached Under Armour’s top designer.

Under Armour’s senior vice-president of design, Dave Dombrow (pictured), has reportedly jumped ship and signed with Nike in what is being touted as a major tactical win for the latter.

Dombrow, who joined Under Armour in 2010, has been a major driving force in the company's gains into the footwear market, which has long been dominated by Nike. He led development on a number of the brand’s high profile footwear projects including the successful partnership with Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry.

Sky

Sky’s chief marketing and digital officer Stephen van Rooyen, has been promoted to chief executive of its UK and Ireland operations.

His ten-year career at the firm has seen him fill numerous senior roles, starting out as director of product management and product marketing, before becoming managing director of sales, marketing and brand and his most recent role as chief marketing and digital officer, which he has filled since August 2014.

Sky has also announced that Andrew Griffith is to take on further responsibilities within the company as he becomes group chief operating officer.

Griffith currently serves as group chief financial officer and managing director of commercial businesses. He will fill the chief operating position in addition to his existing role.

Griffith has been Sky's chief financial officer and an executive director of Sky since April 2008. He has held a number of senior finance roles within Sky prior to this appointment. Together with his role as chief financial officer, he has had executive responsibility for Sky's advertising business since 2012.

Time

Time UK has appointed Future's Keith Walker to the role of digital director for the Innovation Group, which includes NME, Look, Now and Listforlife.net.

Walker takes up his new role with immediate effect. As digital director he will be responsible for driving audience growth for brands across all platforms, while overseeing the Innovation Lab’s initiatives to launch new products and develop new customer and commercial solutions.

Walker returns to Time UK from Future, where he was group product director. Prior to this he held several senior digital roles at Future Plc, including head of audience development, entertainment; and head of digital, entertainment. Walker previously worked at Time Inc UK when he was responsible for the digital development of Nuts.co.uk and Mousebreaker.com.

BBC

The BBC has appointed Mark Linsey as head of BBC Studios ahead of a major management restructure that is expected to be announced by director general Tony Hall in the coming months.

Formerly acting director of television, Linsey is taking the helm at the company's production arm, replacing Peter Salmon who announced his unexpected departure from the public broadcaster last month. Salmon is moving on to take up the role of chief creative officer at Endemol Shine, having only joined the BBC last July.

In his new role Linsey will be tasked with overseeing a plan to shift some the BBC's biggest shows, such as Eastenders and Top Gear, into a distinct £400m company. Over 2000 staff will be transferred in the move, which will allow independent producers will be able to pitch for virtually all of the BBC’s output.

NotOnTheHighStreet.com

Former NotOnTheHighStreet.com head of marketing communications, Fiona Wallin, has joined tails.com as its first head of marketing.

Wallin joins a 40-strong team led by co-founder James Davidson and backed by the founders of Innocent Drinks, LoveFilm and Graze. She will be responsible for all brand and direct marketing including advertising, digital and PR. Wallin previously headed up marketing communications, digital marketing and acquisition at the online retailer notonthehighstreet.com.

Iris Sport

Sponsorships aren’t catering to younger audiences in the way other parts of the marketing mix do, so Iris has launched its own sports marketing division to bring brands closer to that untapped audience.

Dubbed Iris Sport, the division promises potential clients activations that are “more provocative” and “more challenging” than what’s currently being invested in, pushing them beyond the inventory-led plans that define traditional strategies.

Iris Sport will be led by Simon Yoxall, group account director, Nico Tuppen, managing director and Benj Chilcott, the chief executive of Iris Concise.

Organic

Omnicom-owned digital agency Organic has brought in Kingsley Taylor to serve in the newly created role of managing director - San Francisco.

Taylor joins from MRY’s San Francisco office, where he also served as managing director. At MRY, Taylor “oversaw the agency’s rapid west coast growth and helped secure a diverse roster of clients including Charles Schwab, Credit Karma, Del Monte Foods and T-Mobile,” according to Organic.

Sid Lee

Global agency Sid Lee has hired Eric Schmidt and Felipe Ferreira as creative directors.

The duo, who have joined from R/GA, will work out of the agency’s New York office and will report to co-executive creative directors Dan Chandler and Dan Brooks.

According to Sid Lee, Schmidt and Ferreira were both highly involved with the Samsung account while at R/GA, helping the agency win several awards at Cannes.

VCCP

VCCP has promoted Jim Thornton and Matt Lever to deputy executive creative directors.

Reporting into executive creative director Darren Bailes, the pair will support Bailes in overseeing the creative output for the agency’s clients, which include O2, EasyJet and CompareTheMarket.com.

Thornton began his career at JWT before stints at TBWA, Mother, Leo Burnett and Arnold KLP, prior to being appointed creative director of VCCP in 2012.

Lever was appointed creative director in July last year, after being poached from his role of copywriter at Wieden & Kennedy in Portland, where he had worked since 2013.

Omobono

Omobono has expanded its offices in Cambridge.

Joining the team will be: Daniel Kaye, business development and marketing manager; Tim Harding, art director; Alex Chambers, senior project manager; Charlotte Fitzgerald, senior project manager; Laura Webb, strategist and Pia Walton, marketing executive.

Previously at Conran Design Group, Kaye will work with the team to deliver a relevant and engaging programme of smart, educational and entertaining content and activity. Both Fitzgerald and Chambers will help Kaye with business development, through the delivery of client projects and working on new business generation. Harding will bring creative ideas to Omobono, helping to open up a dialogue and grow the client’s brand.

LoopMe

LoopMe has appointed Scott Shulman as vice-president sales, North America as part of its ambitious expansion plan in the US.

Shulman joins from RocketFuel, where he held the position of vice-president strategic sales before being appointed vice-president agency partnerships, and helped to take the company from startup through to IPO, managing a team of 30 sellers and contributing $160m of the company’s global revenue.

In his new role he will be responsible for driving the company’s development in the US, as it builds on successful relationships with brands such as Adidas, Netflix, Heineken, Microsoft and Samsung.

S4M

Adtech outfit Success for Mobile (S4M) has appointed Frederic Joseph as chief executive of its US operations.

Joseph will be based in New York City at S4M’s US office and will oversee all aspects of the company’s North American business. To accelerate their US expansion, the company also recently moved into a larger office at 36 Cooper Square, former home to other Silicon Valley success stories like Foursquare and Curbed.

Having previously served as chief executive, EMEA at Performics and chief digital officer worldwide at ZenithOptimedia, Joseph has also held posts at Vivaki Nerve and was president at the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) France.

Way to Blue

LightBrigade PR managing director Alan Twigg has been appointed as head of consumer at integrated global communications agency Way to Blue.

Twigg, who left Fishburn Hedges consumer shop Seventy Seven as managing partner four years ago to set up his own PR operation, will now focus on developing the Way to Blue group’s brand PR business.

Want to get your career on the move? Check out The Drum Job page and follow @TheDrumJobs for updates.