People on the move: hires and departures at American Apparel, Hootsuite, News UK 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.
American Apparel
American Apparel has permanently cut ties with its disgraced founder and former chief executive (CEO) Dov Charney, and brought in its first female boss Paula Schneider to bring “stability and leadership” as the brand undergoes a transition.
Schneider has previously held senior roles at a number of a number of retail and apparel companies, including Warnaco, Gores Group, BCBG Max Azria, and Laundry by Shelli Segal.
Scott Brubaker, who has been serving as interim CEO, will continue in the post until Schneider joins the company on 5 January, after which he will remain as a consultant to ensure the transition works effectively.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite has poached Magento’s Jimmy Duvall and appointed him as vice president of product to manage the social platform’s expanding product suite.
Duvall previously held the role of head of product for Magento, an eBay company, where he oversaw the global product management and user experience design organisation.
News UK
News UK Commercial has appointed Opera Media’s Chris Amor to the role of trading director to help sell to advertisers its integrated approach to targeting readers.
In his new role Amor, who previously served as print, radio and out of home trading director at Opera Media, will report to commercial director Dominic Carter and will begin the role early next year.
WPP
WPP has appointed Roberto Quarta, current chairman of tech company Smith & Nephew and engineering business IMI, to its board as non-executive director and chairman.
The appointment is subject to his re-election at the Company’s Annual General Meeting in June 2015.
Quartas will succeed Philip Lader, who joined the board as chairman in 2001 and announced his resignation earlier this year. Under Lader's tenure, WPP’s billings have grown from £14bn to £46.2bn and the number of employees (including associates) from 65,000 to 177,000
Deezer
Deezer has appointed Hans-Holger Albrecht as chief executive, effective 1 February 2015.
Albrecht comes from Millicom where he was president and chief executive of the telecom and media group.
On his appointment, he said: “It is with a tremendous sense of excitement that I take on the role of CEO of Deezer.
“This is a company that has already built a substantial user base of 16 million people in more than 180 countries. It has come a long way already and become a thriving, pioneering company that is helping to redefine the way we all discover and enjoy music.”
Ogilvy Australia
Joining the agency from R/GA New York, the appointment comes just months after Ogilvy acquired digital agency Bullseye.
As executive producer at R/GA, Kidney was account and production lead for several Nike digital brand categories including global golf, North American football, and men’s athletic training, having worked on campaigns to maximise the sport brand’s exposure at events including the 2013 Superbowl and the 2014 US Masters.
iProspect
Vinter will head up the 200-strong bought-media team, and will work closely with clients and internal teams to drive bought media across the agency’s paid search, affiliates, video, display and paid social activity.
During his time at MediaCom as head of digital, EMEA - working predominantly with technology and business clients - Vinter ran the Dell account globally. Prior to that he was business director, EMEA for Mindshare.
GMR Marketing
Gary Reynolds, founder of global experiential marketing agency GMR, is stepping into the role of Chairman. Cameron Parsons, the agency’s chief operating officer, will be replacing him as global CEO.
Reynolds will provide strategic, day-to-day counsel in his new role, while Parsons will lead everyday management across GMR’s hubs in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific.
Sitecore
Customer experience management company Sitecore has appointed Laurence Debruyne as UK marketing director.
Debruyne will replace Shawn Cabral, who is now vice president, global brand marketing. She will take on responsibility for direction of the company’s brand led strategic marketing and demand generation in the UK.
Debruyne has a proven track record in designing and implementing successful marketing campaigns on a global, regional, and local level, and for a range of blue chip companies such as Jaguar, Sony and the Givenchy.
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