Performance marketing people: ex-Amazon staffer joins Say it Now and Kepler Group continues its global expansion

Industry veteran Jay Stevens has joined performance TV in advertising software company MNTN as General Manager of International. Stevens, a seasoned professional in digital marketing and international business development, is poised to oversee MNTN’s strategic expansion into Canada and the UK in the latter half of 2023, with other international markets soon to follow. Stevens’ credentials include leadership roles at Hudson MX, Adform, and the Rubicon Project - now Magnite.

Kepler Group has continued its global expansion, promoting Mallory Simmonds to President, EMEA. Simmonds joined Kepler in 2014 working in Client Solutions in New York before taking on leadership of the newly formed Marketing Analytics & Insights department. In 2018, she launched Kepler's first London office and most recently was leading the company’s Client Delivery in EMEA.

VoucherCodes has appointed Michael Brandy as its new Senior Commercial Director, joining its UK leadership team. Brandy brings with him 15 years of online experience with companies including Tradedoubler, Commission Junction, Linkdex and most recently, UBIO.

Global influencer marketing agency, Billion Dollar Boy (BDB), has appointed Simon Harwood to the newly created role of Global Performance Director. He brings 20 years of senior experience in the industry to BDB, most recently with independent media agency the7stars where he was Head of Strategy.

Voice assistant ad-tech firm Say it Now has bolstered its North American expansion by hiring ex-Amazon Business Development Lead and tech veteran, Lance Charlish, as a Board Advisor. Charlish’s career spans over 20 years, during which he has held various key leadership positions in both public and private organisations, among them are Amazon, SAP, EnerNoc and Peace Software.

EssenceMediacomUK has expanded its senior leadership team with the internal promotions of the current Business Group Heads - Sonya Arthur, Becca Marshall and Nigel Robinson - who will all take on the role of Client President. Catherine Pronzato has also been promoted to the role of MD, Client Solutions.

Further key changes include the elevation of Creative Futures, Analytics & Insight and Data & Technology leaders to the senior leadership group. Dan Wood will take on the role of Managing Director, Creative Futures, Jane Christian as Managing Director, Analytics & Insight and Owain Wilson, the current Head of Data & Technology, will also join the new senior leadership team.

Esports leadership specialist Rachel Rakowsi has joined global socially-led creative agency We Are Social in the newly created role of Global Head of Gaming, leading the company’s Gaming division that was launched in 2021. Rakowsi has more than 10 years’ experience working with brands active in the gaming space like Red Bull and McLaren, as well as developers, Blizzard and Jagex. Most recently, she was at Logitech G as its Senior Global Brand Manager, Simulation.

WeAre8, a purpose-driven social media app, has boosted its UK leadership team with two new hires, Donna McCallum joins as the company’s Director of Collaborate and Katie Lewis as its UK Marketing Director.

McCallum brings with her over 25 years of experience in the media industry, having spent the past decade leading the commercial partnerships team at Global, where she was responsible for spearheading multi-platform deals with the likes of eBay, Sky and Boots. Lewis joins WeAre8 from her previous role heading up the UK & Europe operations for global digital entertainment platform Cameo.

Independent creative and brand transformation agency, JOAN Creative has opened a new international office, JOAN London, to accelerate the agency’s global expansion. JOAN London is the first international expansion of the New York-based agency and will be led by Executive Creative Director Kirsty Hathaway, former VP Creative at Refinery29 and Managing Director Tom Ghiden, formerly the joint Head of Business Leadership at McCann London who will be joining the agency in mid-August.

Jugo, a global virtual meeting and event platform experience provider, has appointed tech veteran Dan Wood as its Chief Marketing Officer. Wood brings to Jugo more than 25 years of experience working for B2B organisations across the technology sector. Most recently he served as the Director of Global Campaigns and Regional Marketing for Micro Focus, a global enterprise software provider recently acquired by OpenText. Wood also spent nearly two decades in various marketing positions for Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s enterprise software and data storage businesses.