People on the move: hires and departures at ITV, Skype, IAB and more
This week has seen another wave of appointments and departures at brands, media owners and agencies. The Drum has rounded up the key hires below.
Skype's Neil Ward has joined Skrill
ITV
ITV has hired Thinkbox’s Neil Mortensen as director of planning and research to develop the broadcaster’s insight and analytics capabilities.
Mortensen, who first joined ITV in 1998, spent eight years at the broadcaster where he became head of research after holding various positions. He spent the last three years as research and planning director at Thinkbox, and before that he was research director at Opera OMG UK for five years.
Skype
Skype’s Neil Ward has joined online payments company Skrill in the newly created position of group chief product and marketing officer as it looks to implement a “step change” in its product and marketing strategy.
At Skype, Ward held the position of senior vice president and general manager of global business operations, overseeing the delivery of user experience and operational delivery.
IAB
The Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB) has added Ben Regensburger, Europe president at marketing technology company Tapad, to its Mobile Board.
Regensburger, who recently oversaw the opening of Tapad’s London and Frankfurt offices, previously served as president of DoubleClick International (EMEA & APAC) until it was acquired by Google in 2008.
Ogilvy & Mather
Ogilvy & Mather has announced that Chris Reitermann has been promoted to the role of chief executive for China, taking over the role from Shenan Cheung who has also been promoted to vice chairman of O&M Greater China.
Originally from Germany, Reitermann has spent most of his professional life working in Greater China. As chief executive he will assume full responsibility for the daily management and operation of the agency, he will also retain his current role as president for O&M Advertising in Asia Pacific.
As vice chairman of O&M Greater China Cheung’s role will see her continuing to focus on helping the agency to shape and maintain its culture, in addition to building and maintaining key client relationships.
PHD
PHD, part of Omnicom Media Group, has appointed Michael Florence as head of planning.
Florence joins from Manning Gottlieb OMD, where he is currently creative director.
His new role, which he will take up in November, will see Florence oversee the planning output across the agency’s entire client base and reporting to PHD’s chief innovation officer, Frances Ralston-Good.
HeyHuman
HeyHuman has named Steven Cooper as its incoming operations director to drive strategy for the agency going forward.
The former creative services and operations director at Saatchi Healthcare will report directly to HeyHuman managing director Alex Young and brings over 16 years of experience to the role including brands such as Microsoft, Sony Mobile, Amex, Nestle, Coke and Guinness.
Rooster Punk
James Trezona has joined content and storytelling agency Rooster Punk, taking on the role of managing director.
Trezona will take responsibility for driving the agency’s growth in partnership with clients looking for new ways to engage customers and employees and he brings with him more than 15 years’ worth of experience working with technology and communications companies.
Vizeum
Vizeum has appointed Jem Lloyd-Williams to the newly created role of executive director for product.
Joining the team from Mediacom, Lloyd-Williams will lead the output for the agency’s entire portfolio of clients from insight and strategy through to execution, with the aim to put digital at the forefront.
Big Fish
Big Fish, producer and distributor of casual games, has appointed Robert Chamberlain as chief financial officer. Chamberlain will be responsible for the company’s global financial operations.
Chamberlain has previously held roles at PopCap Games, where he served as chief financial officer through its successful sale to Electronic Arts in 2011 and at F5 Networks in the same position.
Harvest Digital
Independent digital agency Harvest Digital has appointed Gavin Ailes to the newly created role of chief operating officer.
Ailes, who joined the Harvest board in August 2014, has a strong background in digital marketing having previously held other board appointments in the industry.
He spent seven years working with MindShare in both Vienna and London and was part of the management team that sold The IMW group to Tradedoubler in 2007
Millward Brown
Brand, media and communications research company, Millward Brown, has appointed Robin Wood as chief solutions and marketing officer.
Wood brings extensive brand building, product innovation and international marketing experience with some of the world’s leading brands. He will be based in London and report to the company’s chief executive, Travyn Rhall, as a member of the global board.
GWS Media
Bristol-based web design agency GWS Media has appointed Gareth Simpson as digital marketing manager in order to expand their digital services.
Previously at a Bristol based search engine optimisation (SEO) agency, Gareth Simpson’s role will involve business development and overseeing the marketing team and its clients. He comes from a background of web design and digital media companies and brings a wealth of experience to GWS Media.
RadiumOne
RadiumOne has appointed Patrick Darcy as commercial director Asia Pacific – spearheading the business’ sales efforts across Australia, Japan and South East Asia.
In his role Patrick will be responsible for providing brands and agencies with access to RadiumOne’s audience buying platform and globally patented proprietary social data tool - Sharegraph.
It has also appointed fomer online and mobile manager for ITV - Toby Swire - as regional sales manager to run their regional sales operation in the UK.
He will have responsibility for building agency relationships and driving revenues across key regions including Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham & Scotland, reporting to sales director Craig Tuck.
Sitecore
Global software development company Sitecore has promoted Matt Pilgrim to the role of global director of solution partnerships.
His key responsibilities will be to lead the growth of the strategic impact of Sitecore’s global partner proposition including the management of Sitecore’s Global Partner Program.
For the last two years Pilgrim has been the partner and alliances director and this new appointment with global responsibility outlines the solid commitment to the partner channel as Sitecore continues to grow.
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