People on the Move: Hires and departures Hearst Magazines, Universal Music, Google, HUGE and more

Hearst Magazines UK has promoted Duncan Chater, currently group publishing director of Cosmopolitan, Red and Esquire, to chief revenue officer.

Duncan replaces Ella Dolphin, who leaves Hearst at the end of this month to join Shortlist Media as chief executive.

Reporting to Hearst Magazine UK’s chief executive Anna Jones, he will lead group commercial strategy across all platforms and for all of Hearst’s brands. He takes up his new role on 1 September.

HUGE

Alex Pym has joined digital agency, Huge, as new business development director. Pym will be focusing on the agency’s growth in the UK and across Europe.

With over ten years in the industry, Pym joined the company following two years with SapientNirto as the same role.

Lee Woodard, managing director, Huge London comments: “His varied background means he has a unique understanding of the mechanics and chemistry needed to build and execute a winning new business strategy.”

Universal Music

Oana Ruxandra has been appointed as senior vice president of digital strategy and partnerships at Universal Music.

Previously serving as vice president of digital strategy and business development at Warner Music Group, Ruxandra will work closely with labels and partners. She said: “More peole are listening to music in more ways than ever before. I’m looking forward to ensuring the entire calue chain profits from this unprecedented access.”

Ruxandra will be based in Santa Monica.

R/GA

R/GA London has announced Emma Yarwood as the new role of director of operations.

In the new senior management role, Yarwood will work on growth and development of the company’s EMEA office based in London.

On her new role, she commented: “I have always been impressed by R/GA’s approach to forging new paths and I am impressed with the London offices relentless focus on delivering true innovation for its clients.”

Barcroft Media

Barcroft media has announced the appointment of two new senior hires; Dom Smith and Victoria Catton.

Smith will be working as head of editorial following a career of editor positions at Nuts, FHM Australia and Heat. While Catton will join the company in a newly created role as head of partnerships following the role of distribution manager at Bloomberg.

Sam Barcroft, CEO of Barcroft media, said: “We're very pleased to welcome two proven leaders in their respective fields. Maintaining and growing our editorial and commercial capabilities are key components of our expansion strategy.”

Golly Slater

Golly Slater welcomes two new recruits to the business including Christain Dente as senior account manager and Amily Hoyland following an internship with the Leeds PR firm.

Dente, who is joining from Aberfield Communications, will bring with him experience from working with a number of brands including Pringles, Diageo and Leeds Bid.

While this is Emily’s first job within the industry with placements at Mmazda and Auto Express before graduating from Leeds Beckett University.

Jellyfish

Jellyfish has promoted Alice Reeves to associate director of social media following her role as senior social media and outreach manager.

In the new role, Reeves will lead the agency's social accounts while also leading a team of social media managers and executives.

Reeves will also continue to provide social media training courses for Jellyfish Training.

M&C Saatchi

M&C Saatchi’s chief executive, Tom Bazeley, has reportedly stepped down from his position and left the company.

Staff at the advertising agency were informed today (9 August) that Bazeley had departed the company by mutual agreement, it is understood that he has not lined up a position elsewhere though.

Bazeley joined the agency in 2014 when the digital company he co-founded in 2004, Lean Mean Fighting Machine, was bought by M&C Saatchi and within six months of his arrival he had replaced Camilla Harrisson as chief executive.

Blue Array Ltd

Blue Array has appointed Sean Butcher as head of SEO to manage and drive the company’s efforts with SEO and growth development.

Butcher joins the SEO consultancy from Torpedo where he was SEO and content manager for just under a year.

Founder of Blue Array, Simon Schnieders, spoke highly of Butcher. He said: “He has a wealth of experience that he will bring to the role from dealing with a wide range of clients to implementing successful SEO strategies.”

Wavemaker

Wavemaker has appointed Danny Weitzkorn as content partnerships director.

Joining from Ball Street as client services and marketing director where he previously worked with brands such as Budweiser and LittleWoods, Weitzkorn will lead integrated content partnerships for clients including Compare The Market, Danone and Visa Europe.

Weitzkorn will report directly to Damien Gillman, who was recently promoted to head of content partnerships in April.

IPG Mediabrands

IPG Mediabrands has announced the appointment of Caroline Foster Kenny as CEO across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Foster Kenny has spent the last 12 years at MEC where she worked as global chief client officer for the past six years where she oversaw 30 global clients . She said: “I’ve spent the majority of my career building client-focused solutions. I’m looking forward to driving transformation across Mediabrands in EMEA.”

Henry Tajer, global CEO of IPG Mediabrands, who broke the news, described the Foster Kenny as “an asset” to the company. He said: “Over the past year, we’ve had a number of successes in the region, and I’m thrilled for Caroline to come in and advance the plans we have in place to elevate our network in EMEA.”

R/GA

Rebecca Bezzina has returned to R/GA Sydney to serve as vice president managing director following a nine month stint at Cummins&Parnters.

Bezzina originally joined R/GA in 2013 as client services director when the Australian office first opened and was noted as an instrumental player in the early growth of the office.

The return from Bezzina will replace Jon Halloway who is departing to start a new career outside advertising.

Google

Google Ventures founder Bill Maris has announced his departure from the tech financing business after deciding to spend more time with his family.

Stating that ‘everything is great’ at the business Maris said he was leaving on a high note and was enthusiastic about handing over the reins to his friend and deputy David Krane.

He said: “I love the investment world because it’s so highly leveraged. If you’re a polymath or have a short attention span — me being the latter of the two — you can get to work on anything.

The Huffington Post

The Huffington Post is to lose its co-founder and editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington as she looks to build Thrive Global, her newly funded health startup.

In June 2015 she signed a deal which would see her stay at the media company until 2019.

Since then, however, Thrive has secured Series A funding and she subsequently announced today (11 August) that she will leave the company to put her energy into Thrive.

Pearlfisher

International design agency Pearlfisher has announced that it is opening up shop in San Francisco and will be led by Brian Steele who as creative director.

With offices in London, New York and Copenhagen, Pearlfisher will join branding agency CBA in San Francisco, where Steele also worked as creative director.

Throughout his career, he has worked with brands including Coca-Cola and Levi’s and has won a number of awards from organizations including D&AD, Cannes Lions and AIGA.

Palisades Media Group

Full-service marketing agency Palisades Media Group has promoted Hwa-Shih Lee to the role of senior vice president-digital marketing.

Lee, who joined the agency 10 years ago, previously served as vice president-digital director at the agency. Before joining Palisades, which is based in LA but has offices in San Francisco and New York, Lee served as vice president of e-business for online customer acquisitions at Citigroup’s CitiCards.

According to Palisades, her appointment comes on the heels of six months of growth for the media agency.

AKQA

Rachel Barek is a New Yorker at heart, but she has embraced her adopted home in Washington, DC, and has been promoted to general manager of AKQA's Washington DC office. Barek, formerly the director of client services at the agency, takes on the responsibility of helping AKQA’s clients by driving forward ideas, products and services as well as continuing to develop the company culture and client relationships.

“AKQA DC has several of the most successful and longest-tenured client relationships in our company’s history, and Rachel’s passion and focus on client services has played a large part in that. I’m excited to have Rachel’s vision and leadership help shape our future,” said Erik Rogstad, Managing Director, AKQA.

Bailey Lauerman

Nebraska-based Bailey Lauerman has appointed Erica Lee as director of media strategy. Lee joins the agency from Universal McCann (UM), where she led a ten person team for the Sony Pictures business. Lee will lead media and digital strategy for the agency’s top consumer brands including Cuties, Phillips 66 and Panda Express.

Leveraging her 12 years of experience in the fast-paced movie marketing business, Lee’s experience includes media campaigns for blockbuster films including The Amazing Spiderman, 21 (and 22) Jump Street, and Seth Rogen’s The Interview.

“Erica’s experience within several of the largest media agencies has allowed her to help clients connect successfully with consumers, by understanding how they interact with today’s complex media landscape,” said Carter Weitz, chairman and chief creative officer for Bailey Lauerman.

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