People on the move featuring Volvo, London Advertising, Airbnb, McCann and more

Airbnb has appointed Geoff Seeley as its first ever media chief almost eight months after the hunt began.

Working under the title ‘director of global connections and media activation,’ the former Pearson and Unilever executive has been charged with drawing out greater value from the company's media investment as it transitions from disruptive room-renting app to a full-service travel powerhouse.

Volvo

Mike Johnstone has joined Volvo UK as marketing strategy director. He departs Harley-Davidson, where he served as international director of marketing.

Taking on responsibility for developing and implementing an integrated marketing strategy, he will be integral to delivering the auto brand's ambitious growth targets, following the launch of several new vehicle ranges.

Aegon

Insurance and pensions company Aegon has hired Alistair Welham as head of marketing communications.

Previously leading the marketing for Elevate, a platform that was snapped up by Standard Life from Axa in November 2016, and before that, Virgin Money, Nationwide Building Society, Mercedes-Benz, Welham brings a wealth of experience to the role.

Shortlist Media

Shortlist Media has appointed Georgina Holt to the newly created role of group publishing director across all brands, including ShortList, Stylist, Emerald Street and Mr Hyde.

Holt joins from Hearst UK, where she most recently held the position of publisher of Cosmopolitan, and prior to that was commercial strategy director.

Stylist has also appointed Arabella Greenhill, formerly the fashion director of InStyle, as fashion director and Anita Bhagwandas, formerly senior beauty and health editor at Marie Claire, as beauty director.

London Advertising

Global creative agency London Advertising has appointed Suzy Ray as its director of business development and marketing.

Ray joins from Stack Agency where she was new business director. She will report to Michael Moszynski, chief executive and founder, and lead the agency’s new business and marketing activities.

Havas Group

Matthieu de Lesseux has joined Havas Group in the newly created role of chief executive of creative activities for Havas Paris, Les Haulois, Fillsiz France and Havas Digital Factory.

Previously de Lesseux founded the digital agency, Duke, before becoming the president of Razorfish France.

McCann London

Creative partnership Will Cottam and James Crosby have departed CHI & Partners after more than four years to seek pastures new at McCann London.

The hire aims to “lend a fresh, bold and innovative perspective to new and exciting client campaigns” at the agency.

BETC London

BETC London has hired Genevieve Sheppard as head of film and Alexandra Kelly as creative services director.

Sheppard, who has a background in documentary and television production, joins from B-Reel Films, where she worked as head of production and executive producer. She has also picked up experience at the likes of BBH and Wieden+Kennedy.

Kelly most recently ran a creative team of filmmakers, writers and designers as head of creative production at the Government Digital Service. She will be responsible for attracting new talent to BETC, developing the agency’s culture and overseeing print and digital production across all clients.

Zenith

Zenith has hired Rian Shah for a new London-based leadership role focused on driving brand growth for clients.

Shah will join the network in September as managing director, UK Hub. In this new role, he will focus on driving collaboration for global, regional and local clients. He joins Zenith from OMD UK, where he was chief strategy officer

Amplifi

Amplifi UK, the media investment arm of Dentsu Aegis Network, has promoted Mike McCoy and Steven Ballinger to the roles of managing director.

McCoy, who becomes managing director of the business, has been with Dentsu Aegis Network for 17 years. He previously led the entertainment division The Story Lab.

Steven Ballinger, who has been at Dentsu Aegis Network for 15 years, becomes managing director of commercial and trading, with a focus on evolving Amplifi’s commercial strategy to offer unique products and services.

Futurice

Digital consultancy Futurice has scored a number of senior hires. John Oswald joins from Fjord as global principal of Futurice’s advisory team. Alex Crowfoot, formerly head of discovery at Ustwo, joins as design director.

Mette Andersen has been appointed as managing partner of strategic innovation, having spent eight months as an external consultant for Futurice.

Brazen

Brazen has poached Lee Benecke from Amaze to head up its social media division as the agency's first head of social media.

Having worked on campaigns for the likes of Lexus, Unilever, Radisson Blue and Pizza Hut, Benecke will oversee the setting up and running of Brazen’s client campaigns.

Kantar

Richard Ingleton is set to take over the chief executive role at Kantar from Travyn Rhall,who will be leaving in November.

Joining Kantar in 2013 as chief executive of TNS, Ingleton brings more than 25 years of marketing experience to the role.

TBWA Worldwide

TBWA Worldwide has announced Amie Miller as chief talent officer, a newly created role.

In the position, Miller will take over some of the responsibilities handled by the current president, Emmanuel Andre, who is preparing to leave the company later this year.

Publicis Media

Publicis Media has appointed David Goggin as the UK chief talent officer to oversee the talent investment, development and training.

Leading a team across three functions, Goggin will work to launch new initiatives throughout the company.

The Monkeys

The Monkeys has appointed Ben Sampson as creative director for its Sydney office. Sampson joins from Argonaut San Francisco, where he was creative director, and prior to this, he was a director of creative collective Idea Gallery.

AANA

The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) has appointed John Broome as chief executive of the industry body. Broome was most recently the chief marketing officer of Unilever and has previously held marketing roles for Kellogg's, Nestle and Goodman Fielder.

He replaces Sunita Gloster, who has joined Network Ten as chief commercial and strategy officer.

Fairfax Media NZ

Fairfax Media New Zealand has appointed Sinead Boucher as chief executive officer of the company’s newly consolidated business Stuff NZ. Boucher will be responsible for Fairfax’s NZ newspapers, websites and events, along with the social network Neighbourly and internet service provider Stuff Fibre.

Tickled Media

Tickled Media, owner of websites Asian Parent and social networking site ParentTown, has made a trio of leadership appointments.

Adrian Watkins has been hired to level-up the data-driven activity at the publisher as head of data and strategy. He joins from managing his own data, tech and marketing consultancy firm PerformanceAsia.

Zafar Anjum joins Tickled Media as regional head of branded content. Anjum is the founder of two startups, Kitaab International and Filmwallas, former head of content services for Ying Communications and prior to that, online editor at Executive Networks Media (formerly Fairfax Business Media, Australia).

Toshak Jethwani is now head of sales, Singapore and Malaysia,

at Tickled Media. He was formerly the general manager for media (APAC) at Brightcom and commercial manager at InSkin Media prior to that.

Odd

Odd London is launching in the US after winning the Perry Ellis global creative account. This is the first time the agency, part of the Next 15 Communications Group, will have its own presence in the US.

Setting up an office in New York to service its new client will be Kathryn Jubrail, managing partner, who has worked at the London agency for the past four years.

LA Times

Veteran media exec and former interim chief executive of Yahoo, Ross Levinsohn, has been named the new publisher and chief executive of the Los Angeles Times in a dramatic shake up at the company.

It comes at a tense time for the Troc-owned outfit after editor and publisher Davan Maharaj was fired along with top editors, including managing editor Marc Duvoisin and digital editor Megan Garvey.

215 McCann

215 McCann has appointed Aaron McGuire as creative technologist and Mandi Holdorf as executive producer.

Prior to joining 215 McCann, McGuire held positions at Hello Elephant, Argonaut, Evolution Bureau, and Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Holdorf joins 215 with nearly a decade of experience from Venables Bell & Partners.

Warner Bros Pictures.

Former Google marketing executive Andrew Hotz has joined Warner Bros Pictures as executive vice president of worldwide digital marketing. The role will see him manage domestic and international digital teams as well as work with the wider marketing team on digital campaigns for new releases from the division and its sister arm New Line Cinema.

Rodgers Townsend

Rodgers Townsend, part of Omnicom Group Inc, has appointed Andrew Dauska as chief executive officer. Dauska will partner with Michael McCormick, executive vice president and chief creative officer, taking over from Tim Rodgers, one of the agency’s two founders, as he enters retirement.

Dauska joins from Omnicom’s TBWA\Chiat\Day where he served as managing director and lead client partner for Nissan North America. Previously, Dauska helmed Wunderman’s Minneapolis office.

RevJet

RevJet has hired Adobe and Oracle Marketing Cloud executive David Mackay as its chief revenue officer. With more than 20 years of high-profile SaaS sales experience leading strategic efforts for companies including Omniture, Adobe Marketing Cloud and Oracle Marketing Cloud, Mackay has a proven track record in forming and scaling high-performance sales organizations that surpass revenue expectations.

The Escape Pod

Independent agency The Escape Pod announced it has appointed Dan Funk as director of strategy. Funk will lead The Escape Pod’s research and strategy group, stewarding brand and communication strategies for clients and evolving the agency’s strategic offerings.

Funk has served in strategy leadership roles for Ogilvy & Mather, TBWA\Chiat\Day and Leo Burnett.

PMG

Independent digital media agency PMG welcomes Jill Burgeson as its head of strategy and insights. In the new role, Burgeson will build a brand strategy practice and team across PMG’s locations in Texas, New York and London, as well as lead its team in Los Angeles to serve West Coast clients.

Burgeson comes to PMG as a 20-year veteran of marketing and advertising hailing from Deutsch, TBWA\Chiat\Day, McKinney and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Most recently, Burgeson served as director of strategy and partner at Supermoon.

Madison + Vine

Madison + Vine, a bicoastal content studio, has appointed Richard Robinson as its first executive producer. Robinson will be responsible for growing the two-year-old company’s talent roster of directors, as well as building its agency relationships.

Robinson joins from LA production company District, part of international production company Casta Diva Pictures, where he worked with brands including Nike, P&G, Samsung, Fiat and Lexus.

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