Performance Marketing People: Kantar Media hires new Global CEO and former Meta staffer joins Anzu

Kantar Media has named Patrick Béhar as Global CEO, effective September 2023. Chris Allen, who has led the executive team since 2022, will now focus exclusively on his role as Kantar Media Global CFO. Béhar brings more than 25 years of international experience in the media industry to Kantar. He currently serves as Chief Business Officer for Sky Group, a part of Comcast.

Dr. Matina Thomaidou has joined Dataseat, a programmatic media platform for mobile marketers, as VP, Head of Data Science. Dr. Thomaidou joins Dataseat after serving as Senior Director, Head of Customer Success at Wappier, a software company focused on mobile gaming revenue optimisation. She also previously served as Lead Data Scientist (Ad Auction, Marketing Science, Gaming) at Facebook.

Adludio, a global AI-powered platform delivering attention-led and data-driven mobile advertising, has hired former We Are Social CEO, Benjamin Arnold, as President, North America. Over the past decade, Arnold helped to build We Are Social into one of the world’s largest and most awarded agencies of its kind. Prior to that, he spent over 10 years at integrated agencies in New York, London and Sydney including Wunderman Thompson, Saatchi & Saatchi and DDB Group.

Ozone, a digital advertising platform built by publishers for brands, has appointed Jhan Hancock-Rushton as Client Director, replacing outgoing client lead Sophie Raptis. Hancock-Rushton joins Ozone with two decades of experience working in premium publishing, most recently as Publisher at The Stylist Group. Prior to that, he held numerous senior advertising director roles at media brands including British Vogue, Hearst and Time Inc.

In-game advertising solution Anzu has appointed Nerissa MacDonald as EVP Global Sales. MacDonald has worked in regional and international roles for over 20 years and will bring a wealth of knowledge to the role, having worked in leadership positions at Adform, Sizmek, and most recently, Meta.

Equator, a digital consultancy, has appointed Talha Ihsan as its new CRM Team Lead. With over 15 years of experience in marketing, including the last eight specifically focused on CRM, Ihsan comes from mobility service provider start-up FreeNow and has also spent time at organisations including Debenhams, Skyscanner and The Football Association.

Non-traditional SSP provider Onetag has made two new hires to bolster the expansion of its UK sales operations. Silke Zetzsche joins as Director of Sales, Demand and Umar Nadat as Sales Director, Supply. Zetzsche was previously the Commercial Director at personalisation digital audio specialists, AMA, where she was responsible for revenue growth and commercial team success in the UK, EMEA and APAC. Nadat joins with seven years of experience working with publishers; most recently as Head of Supply at JW Player.

Independent media agency The Kite Factory has announced the appointment of John Clarvis as its first Data and Insights Director. Prior to his appointment at The Kite Factory, Clarvis was a freelance Data Scientist building AI for education and creative services start-ups and worked for global agencies MEC and Wavemaker on an array of projects.

Lindsay McEwan has been appointed Chief Revenue Officer at imagino as the customer data and experience company continues the launch of its UK operations. McEwan is a seasoned SaaS leader who has had a career in establishing and developing high growth SaaS companies across the globe. His career spans TIBCO, Oracle, Neolane and Tealium, where he has held a myriad of commercial leadership positions.

Sahra Monfort has been hired as Head of Brand and Agency Partnerships, UK and International at IMPACT+, a solution hoping to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions in digital advertising. The appointment comes as IMPACT+ launches in the UK by partnering with Azerion. Monfort has over 10 years of experience working in the adtech industry.

Global experience design company, Imagination, has promoted Chad Hines to Director of Business Development for the Americas. Hines was previously responsible for the business development of Detroit and has been tasked with fueling growth and exploring new business opportunities across the North American region. He brings 22 years of industry experience to Imagination, having previously served as Head of Customer Acquisition and Strategy Development for Live Events and Experiential Programs at Contravent.

GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, has announced the elevation of Samantha Bukowski to Global Head of Commerce. Bukowski has spent the last year leading the strategic development and operationalisation of GroupM’s connected commerce capabilities. She first joined GroupM in 2019 to lead Wavemaker’s US commerce strategy and capability.

Optimizely, a digital experience platform provider, has named seasoned product leader Rupali Jain as its new Chief Product Officer. Across her two-decade career, Jain has held product leadership roles at a number of SaaS software companies, including PowerBI at Microsoft and Qualtrics.