People on the move: Hires and departures at Twitter, EE, Sky and Facebook
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.
The social network's chief executive confirmed the news today with a tweet saying that Berland will help tell the stories of the "iconic product".
Sky
James Murdoch has landed his dream job after being appointed as chairman of Sky, four years after resigning as chairman of BSkyB following a failed takeover of the business by News Corp – owned by his father, Rupert Murdoch.
The takeover was aborted and Murdoch’s reputation severely tarnished when fellow News Corp brandNews International became embroiled in the phone hacking scandal of 2011 amidst claims that newspapers had illegally hacked the phones of celebrities.
EE
EE’s chief marketing officer Pippa Dunn is leaving the business after 12 years following the telecom firm’s acquisition by BT.
Dunn’s exit is part of a wider exodus sparked by the completion of the company’s takeover, though no more changes to the marketing function have been announced as of yet.
During her tenure, Dunn played a key role in launching the EE brand, helping to make its 4G offering a prominent part of its branding with campaigns such as those starring Hollywood star Kevin bacon.
Facebook has hired Andrew Keller - former chief executive and executive creative director at CP&B - as its global creative director for in-house agency Creative Shop, designed to help brands and agencies unlock the full potential of Facebook and Instagram’s platforms.
In his newly created role, Keller will report to chief creative officer for the agency Mark D’Arcy, who joined Facebook in 2011 from Time Warner to oversee its creative arm.
Snapchat
Cosmopolitan's editor-in-chief, Joanna Coles, has joined Snapchat's board of directors.
The company has confirmed that she arrived at the messaging app in early December, sitting alongside co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, as well as Sony chief executive Michael Lynton and benchmark partner Mitchell Lasky.
Originally editor-in-chief of Marie Claire Coles took up her current position at Hearst-owned Cosmopolitan in 2012.
Channel 4
Charless Gurassa will replace Lord Burns as chairman of Channel 4, who is set to step down on Wednesday (27 January).
Gurassa has been tasked with dealing with the government’s upcoming review of the broadcaster, which may result in privatisation.
He has been appointed chairman for an intial three year period, a decision which has been approved by culture secretary John Whittingdale. The Guardian reported that Gurassa was Ofcom’s first suggestion to the department for culture, which can veto its suggestions.
Guardian
Guardian News & Media has appointed Martin Belam, developer of Trinity Mirror digital sites UsVsTh3m, Ampp3d and Mirror Row Zed, as its social and new formats editor, a newly created role.
Starting 1 February, Belam will lead the creation of an integrated social strategy for the Guardian. He will head up a team who will look to experiment with how the publication reaches additional audiences using new media, as well as developing the publisher’s content off-platform.
FCB
Tris Gates-Bonarius is joining FCB as global executive creative director of German personal care brand Beiersdorf.
Gates-Bonarius replaces Constantin Kaloff and joins from Facebook, where she was serving as creative director at the social media giant’s creative shop in Amsterdam. Before joining Facebook in 2013, she worked at a number of agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi, McCann Erickson and AMV BBDO.
Arnold
Boston-based Arnold Worldwide has named Ed Castillo as its first-ever global chief strategy officer.
Previously, Castillo served as chief strategy officer at TBWA\Chiat\Day New York where he led pitches for account wins including GoDaddy and Thomson Reuters.
In his new role, he will report to Arnold’s global president Pam Hamlin and will partner with the agency’s chief creative officer Jim Elliott.
Leo Burnett
Publicis Groupe has announced that Rich Stoddard will replace incumbent Tom Bernardin as chief executive of Leo Burnett Worldwide following the latter’s appointment as chairman of the American advertising giant.
Assuming his new role on 1 February Stoddard will continue his current role as chief executive of Leo Burnett North America in tandem with his latest appointment.
Ogilvy & Mather
Ogilvy & Mather London has appointed Kevin Chesters as chief strategy officer.
Joining from mcgarrybowen where he held the role of executive planning director, Chesters is charged with helping to lead the UK agency reporting to Ogilvy & Mather London’s new chief executive officer, Charlie Rudd.
VCCP
VCCP has hired Cake’s Dermot McPartland as the creative director for its content and marketing arm.
He joins the management team for VCCP Kin and will work closely with its executive creative director Darren Bailes on accounts including O2 and EasyJet. The agency describes his role as “creating big storytelling campaigns in the social and experiential space”.
Deeson
Digital shop Deeson has hired Andrew Larking as creative director.
The former Reading Room creative and board director will work between the Drupal specialist’s Canterbury and London offices.
Deeson works with companies including Johnson & Johnson, ITV, Shepherd Neame, Robbie Williams, Jimmy Page and the Natural History Museum.
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