People on the Move, including new hires at AKQA, Amazon, Kantar and more

If you’re looking to make your next move, remember to subscribe to our bi-monthly newsletter, Working it Out, which gathers up the best new marketing vacancies and helps you get interview-sharp.

Got a People on the Move story or tip-off for us? Send it to peopleonthemove@thedrum.com for consideration before next Tuesday.

Brands

Amazon Studios has tapped Greg Coleman as its global head of franchise marketing. He will be tasked with overseeing the team in charge of TV and film fantasy and sci-fi originals – including the upcoming Lord of the Rings series. The marketing exec was most recently vice-president of worldwide marketing and franchise management at Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Amazon has also poached Uber’s Omar Gurnah, who exits after two years as head of marketing at the ride-hailing app to join the e-commerce giant as senior marketing manager.

Online used car marketplace Motorway has appointed Lloyds Page as its first chief marketing officer. For the past two years, Page has been marketing director at MoneySuperMarket, where he played an integral role in the brand relaunch and its ’Get Money Calm’ brand positioning.

Spotify has promoted Rak Patel to lead its sales teams across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The step up follows on from the departure of Marco Bertozzi, who was vice-president of EMEA and multi-market global sales. It also comes as spotify doubles down on its podcast ad sales offering.

Target has crowned a new chief marketing officer amid a management shuffle. The business announced a series of leadership changes this week, including tapping 14-year company veteran Cara Sylvester, who has held a number of buying roles with the retailer, as its new chief marketing and digital officer. Current chief marketing, digital and strategy officer Rick Gomez will take on a new role as executive vice-president and chief food and beverage officer.

Agencies

Ex-SpaceX design director Hillary Coe has been appointed as principal of experience for AKQA and joins the North American leadership team, based in San Francisco. At SpaceX, she provided design and ’human experience leadership’ in collaboration with Nasa.

JoRoan Lazaro also joins AKQA, as executive creative director. With over 20 years of experience in product design, he will lead the creative team at AKQA’s New York studio. Both he and Coe will work on crafting ’visionary experiences with clients and the AKQA team’.

R/GA London has hired ex-AnalogFolk managing partner Rowena Vithlani as executive client services director, completing the agency’s new-look leadership team in the UK. Vithlani will take the lead on Interpublic agency’s senior client relationships while also looking to grow R/GA London’s client services team.

Deloitte has appointed Annie Gallimore as managing director of its creative consultancy, Acne London. Gallimore joins from the same role at Engine. She will oversee the team in London, which is currently growing rapidly and making hires at all levels across its brand, advertising and content offerings. Such appointments include Katie Farrell, previously of Wolff Olins, as director of brand, and Kate Murphy, previously of Lucky Generals, as creative director of advertising.

MediaCom has appointed Steve Ricketts as partner and UK head of e-commerce. Ricketts will lead the agency’s client development into Amazon and other e-commerce platforms, while also speeding up the development of its own social commerce offering. He was formerly a consultant for B&Q brand owner Kingfisher.

Media

The News Media Association, which represents the UK’s local and national news media industry, has announced the appointment of Owen Meredith as its next chief executive. Currently boss at the Professional Publishers Association, Meredith has held a number of roles at the magazine and business media trade body, overseeing its public affairs work.

Kantar Public, the public policy evidence and advisory division of Kantar, has appointed two new members to its senior leadership team. Caroline Connolly joins from global consulting business Cardno to take up the role of chief exec of development practice, based in its Washington DC office, while Gaurav Sabharwal joins from EY to become chief exec for Kantar Public India and South Asia. The appointments signal a commitment to clients to deliver consulting alongside the company’s existing evidence, analytics and data capabilities.

Elsewhere

Brand safety business Zefr has appointed former Target executive Kristi Argyilan to its board of directors. Argyilan previously spearheaded Target’s enterprise media strategy and will be ’critical’ to furthering Zefr’s global expansion in 2021.

Want to get your career on the move? Follow @TheDrumJobs for updates.