Thomas Byrne to lead Merkle's EMEA agency ops

Byrne will also be responsible for building strong organic growth and expanding Merkle’s agency business across Spain, the Netherlands, Dubai, Germany and the UK, spanning paid search, programmatic display, social media, customer experience, advanced analytics and SEO.

Prior to his new role, Byrne was vice-president growth and partnerships at Merkle, and was previously responsible for growing Periscopix, which he joined in 2009 and was acquired by Merkle in 2015. He played a leading role in taking the agency from 20 to over 280 people.

Michael Komasinski, president of Merkle EMEA, said: “Tom has played a significant role in building our market-leading performance media operations in the UK, demonstrating outstanding client leadership and developing our successful strategic media partnerships. This makes him well placed to lead our rapidly expanding agency business in EMEA into its next phase of growth,”

Commenting on his new role, Byrne said: “The digital and wider advertising ecosystems are rapidly evolving, with data allowing for a whole new approach that involves serving ads according to the needs and interests of each consumer. I’m incredibly excited to drive Merkle’s people-based marketing offering and play a role in growing the business through this pioneering approach that benefits both brands and consumers.”

Byrne will also join the Merkle EMEA executive leadership team, as the representative for Merkle’s Agency Services division.

Merkle EMEA’s recent growth in the performance media space includes the acquisitions of Divisadero in Spain, Oogst in the Netherlands as part of its Oxyma acquisition, and B2B digital agency DWA, with offices in Munich and London.