Performance marketing people: Netflix and Reddit leadership shuffles, former Twitter seniors move on and incoming IPA President takes EMEA and UK helm at GroupM

Former Global Agency Lead of Twitter, Ed Turner, has joined VaynerMedia EMEA as VP of Media EMEA. Based in London, Turner will oversee all regional media operations, spanning strategic partnerships, planning and activation. Prior to Twitter, he held roles as Director of Media for Little Dot Studios, Chief Media Officer at COPA90, and multiple executive positions across creative and media at Engine.

VaynerMedia has also appointed Sarah Cabey as VP of Client Partnerships. Cabey joins from agency Drum OMG, where she was a Business Director for over five years. She has over 12 years of industry experience working for agencies and in-house.

Southeast Asia PropTech company PropertyGuru Group has welcomed Disha Goenka Das as Chief Marketing Officer. Most recently Goenka Das was Senior Global Director of Marketing at Twitter and she spent a decade at Google where in her last role she was Head of Ad Product Commercialisation for Asia Pacific.

Netflix’s Reed Hastings has handed the CEO reins to Ted Sarandos, who was promoted to Co-CEO in 2020 and Greg Peters, who has been promoted from Chief Operating Officer. Hastings, who will assume the role of Executive Chairman, co-founded Netflix and spent more than twenty years at the helm of the streaming giant. The trio have been working closely together for 15 years. Netflix has also named Bela Bajaria Chief Content Officer and Scott Stuber Chairman of Netflix Film.

Reddit has announced a series of leadership hires and shuffles. Harold Klaje, has been promoted to Reddit’s first-ever Chief Revenue Officer, and Neal Hubman joins the executive team as Vice President of Global Client Solutions. Klaje has been at Reddit since 2020, while 2023 marks eight years at the organisation for Hubman.

Reddit also welcomes Ori Schnaps, who joins Reddit from Meta as VP of Engineering Core Product, and Milana McCullagh, joining from Coinbase as VP of Legal. Prior to Coinbase, McCullagh managed several legal teams at Google, including for Google Search and Google Maps.

Alison Lomax is YouTube’s new Managing Director for the UK and Ireland. Lomax was previously Google’s Managing Director, Finance, Automotive, Marketplaces & Travel, having joined Google in 2011 and holding a number of senior and leadership roles at the tech giant, including a previous stint on YouTube in 2015 for two years as Director of the brand strategy team. Lomax is also a Director and Advisor for Trans in The City and a Trustee of Berkhamsted CFC.

Cheil UK has bolstered its leadership team. Lynsey Stewart joins as the agency’s first Managing Director, while Anna Watkins joins as Head of Marketing and Business Development and Neil Noronha as Business Lead. Stewart has more than 22 years experience in the industry and joins from her previous role as Managing Partner at Digitas. She has previously held agency roles at Wunderman and Ogilvy Worldwide, as well as working client-side at Bank of Scotland and BUPA.

Watkins joins from football media company COPA90, where she has spent the last two years as Marketing Lead. She previously held global business development and marketing roles at media agency PHD and sports and marketing agency Fuse. Noronha joins Cheil UK from Accenture Song (formerly Karmarama), where he was most recently Business Lead. With 23 years’ experience, he has also held account handling roles at agencies including M&C Saatchi, The Red Brick Road and JWT London.

Publicis Groupe has appointed Demet Ikiler as Chief Operating Officer of Publicis Groupe EMEA. Ikiler joins after over two decades at WPP where she was a member of GroupM’s global leadership team as CEO of GroupM EMEA and WPP Country chair. She is also a board member at the United Nation Global Compact, leading its diversity and inclusion chapter. Prior to WPP, Ikiler worked at Zenith and Saatchi & Saatchi.

Josh Krichefski will become GroupM’s Group CEO for EMEA and the UK next month. He will succeed Demet Ikiler and Karen Blackett OBE, who became President of WPP in the UK last September. Krichefski has been part of GroupM since 2011 when he first joined MediaCom as Chief Operating Officer for EMEA, most recently leading the integration of EssenceMediacom as Global COO. He is a trustee of Transformation Trust, a Founding Member of the World Wellbeing Movement and the MS Society Appeal Board, a Fellow of the Marketing Society and is the incoming President of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.

Harry Sumner has joined performance and media agency ROAST as Head of SEO and Content. Sumner has specialised in Search marketing for almost a decade, having started his career at Performics, before moving to iProspect. Most recently, Sumner was Senior Search Director at iCrossing. He has also worked as Search Lead for Sky.

Independent performance marketing agency SINE Digital has promoted Ben Bunce to the role of MD, after previously holding the role of Chief Strategy Director. Co-Founder of SINE Digital James Dale becomes CEO of the newly-formed SINE Group, incorporating SINE Digital and newly launched companies Farlo, 5th Wall and SINE New York, formed after SINE Digital quadrupled in size during the pandemic. Bunce joined SINE Digital in April 2020 after six years at Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG). Prior to founding SINE Digital, Dale was a musician and professional songwriter for Faber & Faber Publishing, as well as EMI Music.

Global creator marketing agency, Billion Dollar Boy (BDB), has hired Sophie Crowther as European Director of a new Community Management division, with Tatum Greig joining the division as European Senior Community Manager. Crowther joins BDB with more than eight years’ industry experience in previous roles as Head of Talent at Brave Bison for over six years and, most recently, as Senior Influencer Marketing Manager at MediaMonks. Greig has been at BDB for more than 18 months in account management.

Ogilvy has named Kevin Nelson WPP’s Global Client Lead for IBM, with additional responsibility for leading Ogilvy’s global B2B practice. Nelson joins from McCann Worldgroup where he most recently served as Managing Director of McCann New York and Global Business Lead for IPG’s dedicated global Microsoft unit.

Beauty retail platform Ulta Beauty has appointed Michelle Crossan-Matos as Chief Marketing Officer. Crossan-Matos joins from Samsung Electronics America where she spent five years, most recently as SVP, Chief Marketing, Citizenship and Communications Officer.

Harsh Shah has joined Wunderman Thompson South Asia as Chief Digital Officer. Shah was previously President West of dentsu Webchutney (dentsu Creative) and held a series of leadership roles during his six years at the company.

Fintech show Money 20/20 has appointed Ken Gibbs as Editor-in-Chief. Gibbs brings more than 20 years experience in digital and social media marketing from several media companies including ViacomCBS, BET Networks, Aol Time Warner, and Prime Video. He was most recently Global Head of Social Media Marketing at Spotify.

Hemanshu Makatia has joined Starcom as AVP Buying and Investment. Makatia was previously a Senior Business Director at GroupM

MRM UK Managing Director Rikke Wichmann-Bruun has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer. Wichmann-Bruun joined MRM from Oliver less than a year ago.

Customer advocacy platform Mention Me has welcomed Fred Reichheld into an advisory role. Reichheld, known as the ‘godfather of loyalty’ was the creator of the Net Promoter Score to track customer experience and has written several best-selling books on loyalty marketing and the loyalty business model. He has been a Fellow at management consultancy Bains & Company since 1977 and has most recently introduced the concept of Earned Growth Rate, an accounting measure to link financial performance to customer experience.

Manchester-based media and behavioural planning agency Running Total, part of Total Media, has appointed Ryan Jones as Head of Digital, as well as opening the doors of its new central Manchester office. Jones joins after eight years at Shop Direct and four years at MediaCom as the agency’s Digital Director.

Sarah Todd has joined Adam & Eve as Client Strategy and Integration Lead. Todd has previously worked with brands such as Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Heineken.

Monitoring and optimisation platform Watching That has announced Erica Crossen Venuto as its new Chief Experience Officer, and Luc Benyon as Global Director of Marketing. Crossen Venuto joins from Brightcove while Benyon previously ran marketing for AG, which was acquired by Outbrain last year.

Adtech company Adnami has appointed Joffrey Cabau as Partnership Director, FR and Tom Dolling as Agency Sales Director, DACH. Cabau has over a decade of experience in the media industry, most recently at ad agency Gamned! and at Alliance Gravity Data Media. He has also held senior roles at Teads and Dunnhumby. Dolling has previously worked in sales at Adform and as senior project manager operations at Sizmek.

Bauer Media Audio has appointed editor, presenter and podcast host Lucie Cave into the new role of Chief Creative Officer – Podcasts and Commercial Content. Cave has previously held the role of Chief Content Officer at Bauer Media.

Adtech platform VeraViews has hired David Murray as Demand Director. In a career spanning 13 years, Murray has driven commercial growth for brands including Hearst, Stylist Media and The Official Charts Company.

Prachi Bali has joined Saatchi & Saatchi Propagate as Executive Vice President and Business Head. Bali is a Co-Founder of Project Chirag and previously spent almost 10 years at FoxyMoron.

Birmingham-based global content marketing agency, HDY Agency, has appointed Jon Sharp as Creative Director. HDY has also restructured its creative team with its newly appointed Head of Creative, Katie Collins as well as Head of Motion, Morgan Tedd.

BBD Perfect Storm has promoted Daisy Proctor to Managing Director, from her previous role of Business Operations Director, after a seven-year tenure at the company.

Data and analytics consultancy Sagacity Solutions has welcomed Matthew Tamea as Solutions Consultant. Tamea was previously Solutions Director at Wood for Trees.

Matt Scotton has joined EssenceMediacom as Chief Product and Marketing Officer in Australia and New Zealand. Scotton previously spent more than six years at Initiative, most recently as Chief Strategy Officer.