People on the move: Hires and departures at Reddit, Hershey, Marks & Spencer, Tumblr & more

Reddit chief executive Elllen Pao has stepped down following overwhelming calls from the site’s users for her resignation in the wake of the sacking of one of the company’s most popular employees.

Her exit, just eight months into her role as interim chief executive, means she will be replaced by the site’s co-founder Steve Huffman however she is expected to remain as an advisor to the board for the remainder of 2015.

Hershey

US chocolate giant Hershey, whose brands include Reese’s and Jolly Rancher, has hired Capital One’s Peter Horst to replace current chief marketing officer Mike Wege.

Horst previously served as senior-vice president of brand marketing at Capital One Financial Corporation. He has also held marketing roles at companies including General Mills and Ameritrade throughout his career.

Marks & Spencer

The boss of M&S’s ailing clothing business John Dixon has left the retailer where he has served for nearly three decades to take up the chief executive role at an as yet, unnamed company.

Dixon, who started out on the shop floor, took over running the clothing and homewares business in 2012.

Tumblr

Tumblr, the Yahoo owned microblogging and social service, has appointed former Comedy Central executive Don Steele as head of audience development.

Steele will assume his newly created role alongside fellow hire Evan Minskoff, formerly of Ovation TV, who will head up Tumblr’s marketing strategy and operations. Both will report directly to chief marketing officer Stephanie Dolgins.

Diageo

Diageo has hired James Thompson to replace Peter McDonough as North American chief marketing and innovation officer.

Currently, Thompson serves as managing director of global reserves at Diageo. Prior to that, he spent six years as chief marketing officer of the company’s Asia-Pacific branch.

Daily Mail

The Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) has unified its ad sales teams into one umbrella division called Mail Brands, and appointed Mel Scott to head it up.

Scott, who is currently UK and Rest of World chief revenue officer for MailOnline, has been promoted to oversee the Mail Brands division in the role of chief revenue officer.

Sky

World champion boxer Carl Froch has announced his retirement from the sport in order to join the Sky Sports team, drawing a successful career to a close in which he won the WBC title twice in addition to the WBA and IBF belts at super middleweight.

This will see Froch back on the box as an expert commentator for Sky’s coverage of up to 120 fights over the next six years.

CMA

The Content Marketing Association (CMA) has hired Vince Medeiros as a director.

Medeiros currently leads TCOLondon as co-owner and publisher, and is a PhD candidate focusing on youth media and related business models.

He will work with the management team at the CMA to support the strategy outlined by the managing director, Clare Hill.

Elmwood

Design consultancy Elmwood has hired Elle Morris to head up its US office as the agency aims to increase its presence in North, Central, and South America.

In her role as president of the Americas, Morris will be charged with leading Elmwood’s expansion. She will be based in its New York City office.

Stein

B2B agency Stein IAS has hired The Mx Group’s Jason Abbate as director of interactions.

Based in its New York office, Abbate will lead the agency’s US team in developing integrated marketing strategy for clients.

Big Spaceship

Andrea Ring is leaving R/GA after ten years to join Brooklyn-based Big Spaceship as its first chief strategy officer.

The new role was created to help clients with digitally-focused products and services as the agency expands its offerings. Ring will also be tasked with sharpening the agency’s strategic vision.

Ogilvy & Mather

Ogilvy & Mather London has appointed Sam Cartmell as creative partner.

Cartmell will work across a variety of global and local accounts and report to chief creative officer, Gerry Human.

He joins from Karmarama where he has served as creative director since 2012, working with brands including Costa Coffee, B&Q and Iceland.

Lambie-Nairn

Lambie-Nairn, has appointed Claire Holmes to the newly created role of head of strategy, London. This is a promotion from her current role as strategy director and will be effective immediately.

Holmes, who has been at international branding agecny for ten years, has played a key role in building the UK business and has worked across many of the agency’s clients including the International Olympic Committee, O2, UCL, the Natural History Museum and Telefónica.

Roast

Online performance agency, Roast, has announced the launch of its dedicated mobile division, and has hired Amobee’s former advertising services director, Robert Andersen to oversee the new department.

During his time at Amobee, Andersen’s team drove mobile engagement and ROI for clients such as eBay, Ford and Vertu.

Tes Global

Digital education business Tes Global has recruited Brigitte Ricou-Bellan as managing director, digital.

In her new role she will focus on delivering and scaling digital services for a global community of 7.3 million teachers.

Brigitte joins TES Global from eBay where she started and led StubHub International.

Life

Integrated marketing agency Life has appointed ex-MEC, Mother and KesselsKramer creative Maurice Van De Ven as executive creative director to lead its new Create Consequence orientation.

Van De Ven will provide leadership and take responsibility for the creative direction of all agency accounts.

Before joining Life he worked at MEC Global London in the same role, where he was responsible for building the agency’s first conceptual ideas division.

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