Smith Takes Orange Brand Role

Orange UK has appointed Ian Smith as its new Head of Brand Communications. Smith will be responsible for Orange’s advertising, digital and media strategy. He replaces Spencer McHugh, who has been appointed UK Brand Director of Orange. 
Smith joined Orange UK in 2003 as Advertising Manager, moving up to the role of Head of Media, where he delivered a number of successful campaigns across all media, and appointed MEC to handle Orange’s media planning and buying business. In September 2008, he took on the role of acting Head of Brand and Sponsorship Partnerships where he led Orange’s strategy in this area and maintained existing partnerships including Orange Wednesdays, the Orange British Academy Film Awards and Orange RockCorps.
Smith’s previous role as Head of Brand and Sponsorship Partnerships has been taken by Hattie Magee.

Karnstedt Joins Jumptap Board

Mobile advertising firm Jumptap has appointed David Karnstedt, President and CEO of Efficient Frontier, to its Board of Directors. Karnstedt has had a high profile career in both search and display advertising, and his experience includes establishing many significant industry firsts.
As President and CEO of Efficient Frontier, Karnstedt leads overall strategy and is responsible for the management and operations of the company. Prior to that role, he served as Executive-in-Residence for Redpoint Ventures, a current Jumptap investor. He also served as Senior Vice President of Yahoo!’s North American Sales, where he drove $3 billion worth of revenue. He has also worked for Wired Digital, AltaVista and Overture.
“The mobile advertising market is rapidly evolving, and Jumptap’s strategy and advanced targeting technology have uniquely and defensibly positioned them for success,” says Karnstedt. “The company offers a tremendous value proposition to advertisers seeking higher ROI, publishers that want to optimize their mobile revenue, and carriers that seek to leverage their data assets to build targeted user profiles.”

MEF Board Moves

The board of MEF (Mobile Entertainment Forum) EMEA has voted to elect Gerrit-Jan Konijnenberg as Chairman and Alberto Ciarniello as Vice Chairman following the departure of former Chairman Gerard Grech.
From the outset, Konijnenberg has been an active champion for MEF EMEA’s activities and was previously elected as MEF Vice-Chairman for the last two consecutive years.  Prior to joining the board, he headed up MEF’s Mobile TV initiative and was responsible for the membership consultation on the EU ‘Television Without Frontiers’ Directive. He has represented MEF at industry conferences and supported events in London, Istanbul and Dubai. As EVP of Sales at Comfone, Konijnenberg represents the worldwide roaming/hubbing company with its existing and prospective operator clients in 125 countries.
Ciarniello is Telecom Italia’s Service Innovation VP in the Product Innovation unit and oversees service incubation and prototyping for different market segments. He was elected to the EMEA board in 2008 and has been the driving force behind the setting up of a local chapter, MEF Italia; a localisation pilot offering local support to MEF’s Italian membership; and establishing strategic partnerships on innovation initiatives.
“I am delighted that the succession at MEF EMEA has been so smooth, with such an excellent and experienced new leadership,” says MEF Global Chairman, Andrew Bud. “I’d like to thank Gerard for his enthusiasm and vision in establishing and leading MEF EMEA, and to welcome Gerrit-Jan to the Global Board.”
Launched in November 2006, the chapter’s remit was extended to cover the Middle East and Africa regions in 2008. Since inception, the chapter has responded to vital areas of European policy – over 20 pieces - including the Byron Review, Audiovisual Media Services Directive and Unfair Commercial Practices Directive; organised more than 15 trade development events and entered brand new regions such as Turkey, Russia and the Middle East; and most recently set up an EMEA regulatory committee, with 30 members signing up to date.
Grech has stepped down as Chairman after taking up a new role at Nokia and has been appointed MEF EMEA Chairman Emeritus in recognition of the fundamental role he played in helping create and establish the EMEA Chapter. He will continue to be involved in an advisory capacity.
Other new directors welcomed onto the EMEA board include Dominique Rougié, TV/Video Director at Next.com/Orange Group, who replaces Grech, and Mark Kortekaas, Future Media Controller, Audio & Mobile at the BBC.

Incentivated Seeks Senior Project Manager

Mobile marketing agency Incentivated is hiring again. The firm is looking for a Senior Project Manager to initially act as Maternity Cover, with the possibility of staying with the business beyond the initial 9-month contract.
The successful applicant must be PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) qualified or part qualified, and will be responsible for managing a small team and for managing multiple projects from concept to testing, through to delivery. Some client facing time will be required, as well as training presentations to company staff.
The successful candidate will enjoy immediate hands-on experience and training, and gain excellent knowledge within the mobile marketing industry. The salary is £35 - £40,000, dependent on experience, plus healthcare and options. 
Anyone interested should apply with their CV to James Hubbard, Operations Director: jamesh@incentivated.com using the subject line: Project Management July09

YOC Hires Two

Full service mobile marketing agency the YOC Group has added a new Account Director and Business Development Manager to its UK team. The two appointments come on the back of YOC’s announcement of its partnership with Haymarket Consumer Media to create mobile websites for a number of industry-leading publications.
Melina Gisler joins the YOC Client Services team as an Account Director from WPP-owned Kinetic Mobile (now Joule) where she drove the launch of the agency in the UK, sourcing new clients and leading the sales process. At YOC, she will manage the international Coca-Cola account, as well as supporting the UK sales team, reporting into YOC Managing Director Thorsten May, who leads YOC’s Client Services.
Grant Sidwell joins YOC as Business Development Manager from online vertical content network Glam Media, where he was Sales Development Manager. He will be tasked with driving YOC’s expanded presence in the UK market, reporting into YOC UK Head of Sales, Gary Danks.
“YOC has recently ramped up activity in the UK, partnering with Haymarket and IDG to bring several of their publications to mobile, and we’re extremely excited about bringing both Melina and Grant on board to help drive our ongoing growth,” says Christian Louca, UK Country Manager and Head of Publishers at the YOC Group. “In tough economic conditions, YOC remains resilient and committed to expanding our presence in the UK market.”

Sony Ericsson Announces Management Moves

Sony Ericsson has appointed its current Head of Region Western Europe, Anderson Teixeira, as President of Sony Ericsson US and Head of Region North America, effective 1 June. He will be based at the company's US operations in Raleigh, North Carolina. Kristian Tear will succeed Teixeira as Head of Region Western Europe, and will combine this new role with his current responsibilities as Head of Sony Ericsson's Global Customer Operations. Tear will be based in Munich, Germany.
A native of Brazil, Teixeira has been part of Sony Ericsson since the formation of the joint venture in 2001. He has led the company's operations in Latin America, as Head of Region Latin America, and subsequently in Western Europe. As President of Sony Ericsson US, Teixeira will report to Sony Ericsson President Dick Komiyama. In his role as Head of Region North America, he will have overall responsibility for Sony Ericsson's sales and marketing operations in the US and Canada, and will report to Anders Runevad, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Sales & Marketing. Runevad is overseeing the North American market until 1 June. 
A native of Sweden, Tear joined Sony Ericsson from Ericsson in 2005, taking  responsibility for strategic account management and relations with major global operators across more than 80 accounts worldwide. Prior to joining Sony Ericsson, Tear spent 17 years at Ericsson in various senior management positions.

Moss Takes Bango Data Role

Bango has appointed Tim Moss to the role of Chief Data Officer as the company increases data handling capacity to scale for rapid growth. With 50+ network connections, Bango says it is now able to serve over 40 million mobile subscribers worldwide on behalf of its content provider customers.
“Tim's primary role is to lead the team that ensures Bango's data centers and databases continue to provide high levels of availability and performance for all our customers, according to our service level agreements,” says Bango CEO, Ray Anderson. “He is also responsible for safeguarding the privacy and integrity of all customer and end user data, and for ensuring the implementation of Bango privacy and security policies.”
Prior to working at Bango, Moss was Chief Technical Architect at the sports news portal, Sportal International, where he helped grow traffic from 1 million page views per month to 1.5 million page views per hour, from over 2.5 million unique users.
Bango partners with network operators to assist in the roll-out of new billing platforms. In the recent case of Sprint in the US, Vodafone in the UK back in 2002 and Telefónica Moviles in Spain in 2006, Bango partnered with the operators to validate the off-portal billing platform before full market delivery.

Tozge to Head Up Velti's Turkish Operations

Mobile technology provider Velti has appointed Elif Ayse Tozge to head up the company’s operations in Turkey. Tozge is assuming the newly created role of Country Manager for Turkey, and will be responsible for overseeing business development for Velti’s mobile marketing solutions with brands and operators across the country. The appointment follows Velti’s announcement of its first deal in Turkey with the mobile operator, Avea.
Velti is a platforms and services provider that enables mobile marketing, advertising, and content delivery, as well as value-added services for mobile operators, advertising agencies, media groups, and large enterprises.
Tozge joins the company after successful roles with leading ad agencies in Turkey, including Rafanieri. She also worked with Turkish mobile operator, Turkcell, as the company’s Mobile Marketing and Advertising Specialist.
in wireless communications.
“Mobile marketing is seeing great success in the Turkish market, through highly innovative operators, and we’re extremely excited to bring Elif on board to help drive our ongoing growth in the country,” says Velti CEO, Alexandros Moukas. “Elif has been one of the leading mobile marketing professionals in Turkey over the last few years, working with some high calibre creative agencies, as well as playing a key part in shaping Turkcell’s strategy in relation to mobile marketing and advertising.”  
In her new role, Tozge will be based in Istanbul, and will report directly to Velti’s Chief Commercial Officer, Menelaos Scouloudis. 

Whiteing Makes PhonepayPlus Role Permanent

Phone-paid services regulator PhonepayPlus has announced the appointment of Paul Whiteing as Chief Executive, with immediate effect. Whiteing, who has been performing the role on an acting basis since the resignation of George Kidd in December 2008, will also assume a seat on the PhonepayPlus Board.
He was previously Director of Policy and Innovation at PhonepayPlus. In this role, he oversaw the creation of an industry support function which provided almost 3,000 pieces of compliance advice in 2008. He was also responsible for policy, directing the ongoing development of the PhonepayPlus Code of Practice and the Review of mobile phone-paid services in 2008-9. A member of the executive leadership team throughout this time, he had a hand in all major decisions affecting the organisation.
Whiteing is also Director of the Independent Mobile Classification Body (IMCB) and a member of the Committee of Advertising Practice’s Sales Promotion & Direct Response Panel.                         

mKhoj Hires Frisbie from Yahoo! for US Role

mKhoj, the mobile ad network for Asia and Africa, as appointed Anne Frisbie as Head of its North American operations. She joins mKhoj after almost five years at Yahoo! where she served as Vice President of Category and Sales Intelligence, and was charged with leading Yahoo's advertising sales strategy for its most important industries.
Her experience prior to Yahoo! includes founding an online shopping service in 1996 that was ultimately funded by CMP Media. She then focused on local search at Zip2 Corporation, where she served as a Director of Publisher Development until it was acquired by AltaVista in 1998.  She worked at AltaVista as a Director of Strategic Alliances, and later ran sales and business development for the company until it was sold to Overture. She moved to Yahoo! when it bought Overture.
As Head of North America for mKhoj, Frisbie will be responsible for helping US based publishers monetize their mobile inventory in India, South East Asia, Africa and the Middle East and will also help advertisers reach their target audience in these geographies.
“The growth of the mobile internet in Asia and Africa is astounding,” says Frisbie. “The strength of mKhoj’s ad network in that region, combined with its strong local expertise, brings tremendous value to our North American partners as they look to grow their sales and consumer acquisition efforts in these ‘mobile-first’ markets."

Appointments Round-up

New year, new job and all that, there have been a few moves in the industry these past few weeks. Here’s a brief run-down…
Voice-to-content company SpinVox has hired Oscar Rodriguez as General Manager of SpinVox Latin America. Rodriguez’ will be charged with developing the market for voice to text services in the region. Rodriguez will be based in Mexico City. He has previously jheld senior positions at IBM, Grupo Empresarial Angeles and Avantel.
SpinVox notes that according to figures form Pyramid Research, mobile phone penetration in Latin America increased by nearly 31% percent in 2008 to reach 488 million connections, but with only 67 lines per 100 inhabitants, there is still huge potential for both mobile telephony and voice-to-content services in the region.
SpinVox has also appointed David L. Thomson as Senior Vice President for Speech Technology. Reporting to SpinVox CTO, Philip Marnick, he will be based in the US and charged with building relationships with technology centres in North America. 
Thomson has 24 years experience in the speech technology and telecommunications business, covering a broad range of technology development, network engineering, and business development roles.
He worked for 18 years for AT&T/Lucent where latterly he was CTO for Lucent Speech Solutions and was responsible for developing the speech technology behind systems that have handled over 10 billion calls.
Mobile Distillery, which specializes in software solutions for mobile application production and testing services, has made several appointments. Steve Haney joins the company as Vice President of its North American office, based in San Francisco. Mobile Distillery has also opened a Singapore office, and appointed Emilie Guldner as Business Development Manager for the Asia Pacific region. Jean-Marc Rocchi joins the company as Business Development Manager, and François-Joseph Viallon has been appointed Head of Operators Business Unit. Finally, Delphine Guyot Giler joins the company as Head of Mobile Distillery’s Testing Labs.
Digital innovations and design consultancy Fjord has hired Joachim Hoffmann as Business Development Director, working out of the company’s London office. Hoffmann joins Fjord from the European business development team at Yahoo! Connected Life. As Senior Director, Business Development, he played a key role in helping to secure partnerships with operators and publishers for Yahoo’s mobile search product, oneSearch, as well as mobile advertising and further partnerships for Yahoo! Go.
Virgin Media has created a Device Portfolio and Campaign team. The team will by headed up by Kate Randall, following a promotion from Campaign Controller to Device Portfolio and Campaign Controller.
Team member Chris Tatton has also been promoted from Assistant Handset Marketing Manager to Device Portfolio Manager (Pay Monthly). Other new additions to the team include Chris Connon, Wayne Daniel and Victoria Marshall.
Finally, messaging company Acision has appointed Tony Morrish as Senior Vice President and General Manager for Europe, Russia and Africa. Morrish joins Acision from Sonus Networks, where he was Vice President and General Manager for the company’s EMEA operations. Morrish brings with him over 25 years of communications and technology experience to the role, leading teams at international companies, including Cisco Systems. Morrish also has experience building and leading start up companies in Europe, such as Juniper Networks in the late ‘90s.

Dark Takes mBlox CEO Role

mBlox has announced the appointment of Andrew Dark as global Chief Executive Officer. He will take up his position by the end of March 2009 and be responsible for leading mBlox through its next phase of global growth.
Dark takes over from Jeff Clark, who is stepping down after four successful years at the helm, during which mBlox has become the world’s largest mobile transaction network and has grown to connect with more than 500 carriers in 180 countries.
Dark joins mBlox from DataCash Group plc, where as Chief Executive, he successfully grew the company organically and through acquisitions. He will use this experience to lead mBlox’s exploitation of the growth and M&A opportunities in the global mobile market, focusing on expanding mBlox’s scale and product range. He will also drive mBlox’s growth through geographical expansion into major new markets.  
“I see enormous opportunities for mBlox, both in developing the global digital economy and in leading industry consolidation.,” says Dark. “My vision is to make it an even better partner for customers and operators worldwide, building on mBlox's global scale, its people and its financial strength.”

Vasudevan Takes Flytxt CEO Role

Flytxt has announced the appointment of Dr. Vinod V Vasudevan as Group CEO. He succeeds Tim Williams, who will take on the role of Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales. In this new role, Williams will drive the company's sales and build strategic business relationships worldwide.
Dr. Vasudevan has 20 years experience in the IT and telecoms industries, with senior management experience in Asia-Pacific, Europe, the US and India. He joins Flytxt from Reliance Communications, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of Integrated Services. Prior to his time at Reliance, he held executive roles in companies including Newstakes Inc, KRDL and NTT.
“We are delighted to have a highly successful and respected industry leader as our Chief Executive to give momentum to our global expansion,” says Flytxt Chairman, David Harper. “Dr Vasudevan has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by mobile operators which will help Flytxt deliver more value to our customers.”
Having sold its agency business to Buongiorno, Flytxt now develops and sells its mobile marketing platform, Neon. The company’s main development centre is in India, and it also has offices in the UK and Germany.

Jenkins Takes MEF Marketing Role

The Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) has appointed of Stephen Jenkins to the role of Global Marketing Director. He will play an instrumental role in communicating and driving awareness of MEF’s initiatives and activities to drive mobile entertainment adoption, shape regulation and deliver competitive advantage to its members.
In this new role, Jenkins will evolve MEF’s digital marketing to engage and inform members around the world about key developments. He will also work to raise awareness of MEF’s industry reports and initiatives, including critical work on content sales reporting and mobile video. Jenkins brings extensive music industry experience to the forum and will work closely with the global MEF team and chapters.
“With Stephen’s wealth of experience in the content industry and his broad marcoms expertise, we are confident he will deepen awareness of MEF’s industry-changing initiatives and activities on behalf of our members to key stakeholders,” says MEF Executive Director, Rimma Perelmuter.
Jenkins joins the MEF from the PIAS Entertainment Group, where he was Head Of International Marketing and instrumental in driving marketing campaigns for labels including Wall Of Sound, Independiente, Full Time Hobby and Fabric. Prior to this, he spent seven years at the EMI Group, initially as part of the trade marketing team and subsequently as part of the international marketing team at Virgin Music. He says:
“It is a hugely exciting time for the mobile content industry. I am looking forward to ensuring our members’ views are represented, and demonstrating the value of a single strong voice for the mobile entertainment industry."

Wehrs Handed MMA Top Job

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has appointed Mike Wehrs as President and Chief Executive Officer of the association, effective immediately. Wehrs replaces Laura Marriott, who announced her resignation last year.
In his previous role as Vice President of Industry Affairs and Evangelism at Nuance Communications, Wehrs was responsible for the company’s overall mobile business strategy, product strategy, and industry and public policy. He was also a key member of the mergers and acquisitions team. As President and CEO of the MMA, Wehrs will continue to promote its charter to build a sustainable ecosystem for the mobile marketing industry globally, focusing on delivering benefits to MMA members, establishing guidelines and best practices for future growth, and driving mobile adoption worldwide.
“The MMA has grown tremendously in recent years in terms of membership and our geographic footprint, so we needed a person with world-class leadership skills combined with relevant experience and business acumen to continue to drive our success,” says MMA Global Chairman and Vice President of Global Alliances at AdMob, Russell Buckley. “After an extensive search, we found Mike to be the best person to lead the association’s activities going forward. Mike is a proven leader with extensive international executive experience and an established track record within the global mobile industry.”
Wehrs has a range of industry association experience, having served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committees for organisations such as CTIA – The Wireless Association, Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) and dotMobi Advisory Group, as well as being an active participant as board member or committee chair for many other industry bodies.
Prior to his role at Nuance, Wehrs served as Vice President, Product Management and Global Marketing for AOL-owned Tegic Communications, an AOL company. As the product management visionary for Tegic’s wireless platform and embedded products, and global marketing group leader, he also served as industry standards and public policy representative within a number of industry bodies. Prior to Tegic Communications, Wehrs worked at Microsoft, where he was responsible for driving industry adoption and business development opportunities in support of many of Microsoft’s Windows products. During his tenure at Microsoft, Wehrs held various senior roles, working on technology and standards, as well as directing market research and product planning for Microsoft’s Mobile and Embedded Devices division.
“I am honoured and excited to lead the MMA at such an important time in its history,” says Wehrs. “The mobile channel has been experiencing tremendous growth, and marketers worldwide are embracing mobile marketing as an essential component of their global advertising strategies, capitalizing on its capability to establish a direct link with consumers on a global scale.  I look forward to working together with MMA member companies, (the) MMA Board of Directors and other industry leaders to ensure a vibrant and healthy mobile marketing ecosystem for all."

We'll have an interview with Mike Wehrs later this afternoon.

Blyk UK CEO Gregory Resigns

Blyk UK CEO Shaun Gregory has resigned, citing personal reasons. His role is being taken by Blyk Co-founder and Chief Executive, Antti Öhrling.
“In 2008 Blyk achieved milestones in member and advertiser growth in the UK and it was a pivotal year for Blyk in demonstrating that the model works for both young people and advertisers alike,” says Öhrling. “We thank Shaun for his contribution to this success.”
Öhrling co-founded Blyk in 2006 with former Nokia president, Pekka Ala-Pietilä, and has been a driving force in the company's strategic direction. While Öhrling takes charge of UK operations, Ala-Pietilä will lead Blyk's international media partnering initiatives. Blyk recently secured an additional €40 million (£35 million) in funding to support its ongoing operations and international expansion.

YOC Hires Two More

Full service mobile marketing agency YOC has announced the addition of new Business Development and Strategic Partnership Managers to the UK team. The double appointment comes hot on the heels of the recruitment of former ITV Mobile Sales Manager Gary Danks and ex-Enpocket and Nokia Interactive New Business Director Christian Louca and the launch of the UK office.
Rhoanna Glenn joins YOC from mobile service provider zamano, where she developed and grew the zamano brand. She joins YOC as Business Development Manager, and will be Reporting into Head of Sales Gary Danks, Glenn will help drive YOC’s presence in the UK market.
Hannah Cotton joins YOC as Strategic Partnership Manager. In this role, she will be responsible for building strategic partnerships and expanding YOC’s existing media network, which includes Teletext ,123Play.com, FlirtyMob and AccuWeather. Cotton joins YOC from Emap, where she was Mobile Product Manager.

YOC Hires Two for UK Push

Full service mobile marketing agency YOC has hired ITV Mobile Sales Manager Gary Danks as its UK Head of Sales, and ex-Enpocket and Nokia Interactive New Business Director Christian Louca as UK Country Manager and Head of Publishers.
YOC says that both hires reflect the company’s drive to capitalise on its success in Europe, where the agency represents brands such as Nike, Coca-Cola and Mercedes-Benz, and to build a strong UK media network to provide pan-European reach. Danks will head up YOC’s UK Sales division, developing YOC’s sales and growth in the UK, while Louca will be responsible for strategic publisher relationships and the agency’s overall UK strategy, from the company’s new London office. 
Prior to his position as Mobile Sales Manager at ITV, Danks served as Head of Business Development at mobile media agency New Visions, creating and managing mobile campaigns for blue chip brands. Before this, Danks ran his own music production company, Blu Music, where he managed, produced and sold over a hundred recording, licensing and production projects.
Louca launched mobile agency, Trusted Media, in 2003, where he signed over 100 record labels to create mobile content for operators such as O2, Vodafone and Orange. After this, he moved to Enpocket as New Business Director.

Eames Takes CEO Role at io global

Digital media solutions provider io global has appointed Phil Eames to the role of CEO. Eames joins io global from the consulting, IT services and technology company, Morse plc, where he led the organisation’s activities in the telecommunications and media sectors. 
Prior to his time at Morse, Eames spent seven years building the digital communications company twentysix Group, growing the business to the point where it employed over 250 staff, and delivered digital communication technology, creativity, services and strategy for brands, media agencies and buyers. Eames has also worked for Fujitsu, Nokia and Ericsson.
“We are extremely pleased to have appointed Phil as the new CEO for io global,” says Chairman, Harry Berry. “His experience of growing businesses in the telecoms and digital media space fits perfectly with io global, and we look forward to working together over the coming weeks and months to further develop the io global proposition.”

Dorado Hired to Run Spinvox's Chilean Operation

Voice to content messaging company SpinVox has appointed Ricardo Dorado as General Manager, Chile. Dorado joins SpinVox from Telefónica Internacional, where he held a number of roles in different companies and countries, from product marketing and product management to business development, in Internet and Mobile Business Units. 
At SpinVox, Dorado is charged with growing the marketplace for voice to content services and play a key role in the company’s Latin American expansion. In October,  MOVISTAR Chile and SpinVox announced the launch of the first voice-to-text service in Latin America.
Dorado has a degree in Industrial Engineering from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He also has an MBA from the IESE Business School where he co-founded and led the Entrepreneurs & Venture Capital Club in Madrid.   
“Chile is an exciting launchpad for SpinVox in Latin America and has tremendous potential for growth,” says SpinVox CEO, Christina Domecq. “Ricardo brings an entrepreneurial and innovative mindset, plus experience at one of the world’s leading carriers, to this role. His breadth of expertise, from marketing to business development, combined with his leadership skills will help SpinVox build its business and brand in Chile and beyond.”
SpinVox is best known for its voicemail to text service which automatically converts any voice message and delivers it to the subscriber as an SMS to their mobile phone and/or email to their PC, PDA or Blackberry. Other services include SpinVox Messenger, which allows customers to speak a text; SpinVox Blog, which enabling users to speak a post directly to their blog; SpinVox Social Networks, which allows posting on walls and spaces on social network sites; and SpinVox CallMail, which helps manage call centre message flow. 
SpinVox now operates on five continents and is currently available in English, Spanish, French and German. The company has plans to enter new markets with Italian and Portuguese conversion in the coming months.   

AdMob Hands Alliances Role to Buckley

Mobile ad network AdMob has appointed Thomas Schulz to the role of Managing Director of Europe. He will replace Russell Buckley, who has been promoted to Vice President of Global Alliances. The move follows the company’s plans to expand its global footprint after securing $15.7 million (£10.2 million) in Series C funding last month.
In his new role, Schulz will be responsible for the company’s strategy and operations across Europe. Previously, he held Pan-European senior business development positions at Overture Services and Yahoo! Search Marketing, as well as general management positions in start-ups, such as the Idealab! backed company dotTV. Prior to working at AdMob, he advised the CEO of Rambler Media in Russia, on strategy, and successfully negotiated complex multi-million dollar deals with global Internet players. He has top-level experience in the e-commerce space, including knowledge of the key players, industry structures, and technology platforms.
Buckley, who has been involved in mobile marketing for as long as the sector has existed, was AdMob’s first employee, and is also the current Global Chairman of the Mobile Marketing Association. In his new role, he will be responsible for working with strategic partners worldwide, while continuing his work as an ambassador for the industry.He says:
“I’m delighted to be able to hand over AdMob’s European operations at such a high point for the company. I have every confidence that Thomas and his team will build on our great successes to date. At the same time, I’m looking forward to my new position and helping to take AdMob to the next level.”

Four Go Flirting

Mobile and online flirting service Flirtomatic.  has announced four new hires.
George Mayou joins the company as a Graphic Designer, Jaeseung Chang as an Interaction Designer, Elizabeth Hansen as a Project Manager, and Leonardo Lanese is the company's new front-end Developer.
“Although we've had a very good year this year and we're pleased with our progress, there is still a lot more for us to work on,” says Flirtomatic CEO, Mark Curtis. “We want to be able to deliver the best possible service to our users. In order for us to do that, we're planning some major improvements and these new hires are driven by our desire to develop what we have a lot further.”

Sponge Hires Four

Mobile marketing agency Sponge has recruited four new members of staff to strengthen its client services and new business teams.
Project Manager Sula McKeown joins the comany from digital agency CAD Interactive. She previously held the same title in Cad’S London and Abu Dhabi offices; managing and developing the online portfolio for a multiplatform media company. Prior to this McKeown worked at the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Sponge has also appointed Bianca Filardo as Business Development Manager. Working with the commercial team, she will be responsible for taking Sponge's products and services to the wider marketing community. Previously, Filardo was at mobile response service company Ad.IQ, where she worked in the new business team.
Harjinder Mahay joins Sponge as an Account Manager. Having worked on mobile aggregation for the last two and a half years, she will work closely with Sponge’s media clients, managing campaigns and building relationships. Prior to Sponge Mahay worked at mobile technology solutions provider WIN.
Kerri Nixon, a graduate from Loughborough University, has joined as Account Executive and will be working on Sponge’s Northern & Shell account.

Lazar Takes the Helm at Connected Life

Yahoo! Europe has appointed Mitch Lazar as Managing Director of Connected Life, Yahoo! Europe. Lazar succeeds Geraldine Wilson, and will be responsible for business and marketing strategy, as well as the operations of the Connected Life business in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Yahoo! Connected Life comprises the company’s mobile and digital home businesses, including strategic alliances with some of the world’s largest telecommunications companies and global device manufacturers.
Lazar has been part of the Connected Life team since November 2005, as VP of Commercial Services, with responsibility for driving business development and partner operations. He worked closely with Wilson on the development of mobile search and advertising partnerships with operators across Europe, including Vodafone, 3 Group, T-Mobile, O2 and Orange.
Based in London, Lazar will report to David Ko, senior vice president of Mobile, who says:
“Mitch has played a pivotal role in driving our strategy and partnerships over the last three years. His knowledge of our business, coupled with his vast experience in digital media and marketing, makes Mitch the perfect candidate to continue to lead the Connected Life team towards success - providing consumers with indispensable starting points on their mobiles and continuing to be the monetization partner of choice for operators, publishers and advertisers.”
Lazar was one of the founders of CNN.com in 1995. Two years later, he launched CNN mobile, the world’s first wireless global news and information service. He later rolled out Cartoon Network mobile services around the globe. Before joining Yahoo!, he was VP, Wireless and Emerging Technology at Time Warner, where he drove global strategy and mobile distribution efforts for Turner Broadcasting System and America Online.

Price is Right for MIG

Mobile Interactive Group (MIG) has announced the appointment of Rachel Price as Business Development Manager. Previously the UK Advertising Account Manager at Rhythm New Media, Price was responsible for launching the first ad-funded video service on mobile. She also initiated the development of mobile video campaigns for high profile brands including Heat Magazine, Nissan, Coca Cola and Barclaycard.
At MIG, Price’s responsibilities will include working alongside media agencies to present mobile solution and strategies to brands and to work with mobile network operators, including Vodafone and 3, to promote MIG’s portfolio of products and services.
“Rachel’s knowledge of ad-funded video services, (and her) experience of initiating mobile video campaigns for leading UK household brands across a variety of sectors and relationships within the industry make her a tremendous asset to the group,” says MIG Business Development Director, Anthony Nelson.

Three for 2ergo

Mobile marketing firm 2ergo has announced a number of new appointments. Adrian Smith and Colin McCaffery have been appointed to the roles of Head of Business Development and Head of Products and Marketing, respectively with Stuart Williams being promoted to Business Solutions Sales Manager.
Smith was previously Vice President of Business Development at TMNG Global, a provider of convergent media and entertainment communications. In his new role Mr Smith will be responsible for evolving and developing business opportunities for the Business, Marketing and Entertainment solution areas of 2ergo’s business.
McCaffery will take responsibility for implementing the 2ergo’s long-term product and marketing strategy. He joins the company after senior management roles at Vodafone, Sky and Orange.

Woodward Zooms Up

Zoombak, which specializes in assisted-GPS technology, has promoted Craig Woodward to the role of Senior Vice President of European Operations. Woodward joined Zoombak as Sales Director in October 2007 and in a 10-month period has successfully delivered the brand into retail. His remit will be successfully build the Zoombak brand in the UK and other European markets.
Before joining Zoombak, Woodward was responsible for establishing the UK Subsidiary for Parrot and developing the brand to achieve an 85% share of the in-car Bluetooth hands free market. Prior to that, Woodward was involved in a number of European telecoms start-ups.
Woodward will report directly into Zoombak President, Kate Shevack, based in the US Headquarters in New York. She says:
“Craig has shown outstanding commitment to Zoombak, delivering a string of successful retail wins and developing a team to drive the business forward in the UK.  With Craig’s track record, I am looking forward to the UK flourishing in the months and years to come.”
The Zoombak Portable GPS Locator for pets, vehicles and general use offers users 24-hour location alerts from almost any computer, to your mobile or any other device with email and SMS capability. Zoombak provides accurate and reliable location information in real time, with unlimited usage. The device sells for £99.99, plus a monthly service fee of £9.99. The device is available in retail stores, and online here.

Changing Places

Following the announcement on 9 September that the EMAPA region would be reorganised to provide greater focus on the Group’s higher growth markets, Vodafone Group Plc has announced a number of new senior management appointments:
Nick Read, currently CEO of Vodafone UK, will be appointed CEO of the Asia-Pacific & Middle East Region, which will comprise Vodafone’s interests in Australia, China, Egypt, Fiji, India, New Zealand and Qatar.
Morten Lundal, currently CEO Middle East & Africa in EMAPA, will be appointed CEO of the Central Europe & Africa Region, which will comprise Vodafone’s interests in the Czech Republic, Ghana, Hungary, Kenya, Poland, Romania, Turkey and Vodacom Group in South Africa. Both Read and Lundal will report to Vittorio Colao, CEO of Vodafone Group.
Guy Laurence, currently CEO of Vodafone Netherlands, will become the CEO of Vodafone UK. He will report to Michel Combes, CEO of the Europe Region.

Orange Makes Senior Appointments

Orange has announced two new appointments to its UK board. The moves follow the launch of the company’s new Agenda in June, which laid out plans to improve, grow and evolve the company.
Jackie O’Leary, currently Director of Customer Service at The Carphone Warehouse, will join Orange next month as Vice President of Service. She will be in charge of Orange mobile and broadband customer service strategy and teams, ensuring that the company delivers the best possible experience to its customers.
O’Leary’s appointment follows Vice President of Service Mike Hughes’s move to the position of Vice President of Transformation. The role will ensure that, having reorganised the business, Orange can deliver quickly and efficiently on the potential of the new organisation, the company says.
“In a world that appears to be changing ever-more quickly, we need to be more agile, we need to respond quicker and we need to be better set up for the challenges that lie ahead,” says Orange UK CEO, Tom Alexander. “We also need help in accelerating some of those projects that are vital to the transformation of the business. Mike is taking on this role as someone who knows Orange inside out, and he will be key to driving through a number of core projects across a variety of areas including some major efficiency initiatives.”

Globo Hires Giannakakos

e-business solutions provider Globo has announced the appointment of Nikos Giannakakos as Business Development Manager, as part of a major expansion drive to take its Value Added Services (VAS) into the mobile phone market. Greek-based Globo is an established European SaaS (Software as a Service) vendor.
Giannakakos joins Globo from the Commercial Division of Vodafone Greece, where he was Group Brand Manager for VAS Marketing. In this role, he worked on the formulation of the company's international VAS strategy for the sourcing, development, commercialisation and revenue of Vodafone's VAS portfolio, including Vodafone Live! and third party VAS, and was responsible for their local implementation. Giannakakos looked after over 600 services and more than 80 third party partners and will utilise this experience in his new role at Globo.
“We plan to grow the business by 70% this year, and we believe Nikos is the perfect addition to the team to support this ambitious growth plan,” says Globo CEO and Founder, Costis Papadimitrakopoulos. “He has proven experience in the mobile industry, having been employed in several managerial positions at Vodafone, including Group Brand Manager and Group Product Development Manager, performing key functions within those roles. This has given him great experience in Value Added Service, Content Services and Consumer VAS, all of which will enable him to enhance Globo’s already-strong mobile team.”

Acision Appoints King

Messaging company Acision has appointed David King to the roles of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Starting immediately, King assumes responsibility for Acision’s worldwide sales and operations. 
King joins Acision from UTStarcom, a supplier of IP networking equipment, where he held the role of Senior Vice President of International Sales, Marketing & Operations.  Prior to joining UTStarcom, King held the role of CEO for Visual Wireless, a Swedish telecom software company. 
King is the latest addition to the Acision management team at Acision, following the recent appointments of Gerard Delaney as Senior Vice President, Global Sales, and Richard Lowe as General Manager for Europe.
“As Acision gains momentum in global markets, I am delighted to welcome David who brings with him a wealth of international experience in some of the fastest growing markets including India, Brazil and China,” says Acision Chief Executive, Rory Buckley. “David joins us at an important time to ensure we capitalise on the success we have experienced during our first year as Acision.”

mBlox Hires Elmer

Mobile transaction network mBlox has appointed Ken Elmer to the role of Chief Financial Officer. As CFO, Elmer will be responsible for leading the global finance, human resources, and facilities functions of the company.
Previously, Elmer was Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration for Tiburon, Inc., where he successfully aided the strategic focus of the management team on a product retooling, while driving the successful negotiation of two of the largest services contracts in the company’s history. Prior to Tiburon, Elmer was a division-level CFO at Pacific Bell and Pacific Telesis Group, and CFO at Visionael Corporation, The MapFactory and TCSI, Inc. At TCSI, Elmer stepped into the CEO position, working with the board, to pursue an exit strategy which resulted in a successful acquisition by Rocket Software in 2003.
“mBlox is experiencing tremendous growth as more and more businesses around the world are using SMS text messaging for their mobile marketing, mobile entertainment and mobile business needs,” says mBlox CEO Jeff Clark. “Ken has led finance teams in companies ranging from a small angel investor-backed private business to several large subsidiaries within a multi-billion dollar public entity. His proven skills will allow mBlox to continue to provide the highest level of quality and service to our global customer base.”
Elmer graduated magna cum laude with a bachelors in business administration from the University of North Texas and is a certified public accountant. 

Bebo Says Kane is Able

Social media network Bebo has appointed Sean Kane as Global Head of Mobile. In his new role, Kane will head the development of relevant and compelling mobile experiences for Bebo's 45 million plus users worldwide. Kane joins Bebo from mobile social networking platform provider Intercasting Corporation. Prior to this, he served as Senior Vice President, Business Development for Vivendi Universal Net.
“Mobile is emerging as a core part of the Bebo experience,” says Kane. “By driving availability and adding compelling and unique mobile experiences, we hope to make using Bebo Mobile as natural for our global user-base as connecting on a personal computer. We will ensure that our members can connect and enjoy the content, media and community Bebo has to offer in a mobile-relevant way.”
In recent months, Bebo has partnered with mobile operators to introduce programs to engage and entertain users wherever they are. In February 2008, Bebo further expanded its mobile offering and partnered with Intercasting to give its users a new way to produce and share content on their mobile phones via ANTHEM, a platform which connects mobile carriers with social networking sites and entertainment companies.

SpinVox Hires Voicemail Veteran

Voice-to-screen messaging company SpinVox has appointed Rich Cohen as Vice President, Market Strategy and Solutions. Cohen joins SpinVox following a distinguished career that includes being awarded patents - including US patent 5,193,110 (with 3 other inventors) for a multimedia messaging server architecture that has generated more than $1 billion (£500 million) in revenue. He previously spent almost a decade running his own consulting firm where client engagements included: Comverse Network Systems, AT&T, Openwave and General Electric.
Prior to establishing his own business, Cohen was director of product management at Software.com which he joined after a stint as Director of Innovative Projects at Art Technology Group. Previously, he served as Director of Strategic Consulting at Boston Technology (now part of Comverse) where, in a seven-year career, he was responsible for designing the first voicemail applications deployed on public telephone networks in North America and Japan. He has advised network operators in more than 20 countries on the development and rollout of value-added services.
“For two decades, Rich has managed the creation and promotion of Internet and telecommunications services that make a positive difference in people’s lives,” says SpinVox Co-founder and CEO, Christina Domecq. “Millions of people around the world regularly use products and services that he has championed, designed and marketed, including messaging, community-building and content publishing. He was instrumental in establishing voicemail and seeing it through to the end of its natural life, so we’re delighted to have him on board as a key member of the team driving the next paradigm shift in voice – delivering voice content to screens.”
Cohen is a graduate of Williams College (Williamstown MA) and of both Brown and Harvard Universities.

Lennartz Takes Airwide Role

Airwide Solutions, which provides next-generation mobile messaging and mobile Internet infrastructure, applications and solutions, has appointed Chris Lennartz as Vice President of Product Marketing. In his new role, Lennartz will be responsible for the global go-to-market strategy and product positioning for Airwide’s mobile internet and messaging product and solution portfolio.
Lennartz brings a wealth of experience to the role, including five years as the Director of Marketing and Business Development for both Acision’s mobile Internet and mobile messaging business units. Prior to his time at Acision, Lennartz served as the Director of Strategic and Product Marketing across LogicaCMG Telecoms’ mobile Internet and messaging businesses. In addition, Lennartz has also worked for Ericsson in the Netherlands and Sweden in various sales, marketing and business development activities. At Ericsson, he was responsible for the market development of datacom networks and IP services, access networks and mobile applications in the Benelux region.
“We’re excited to have Chris as a part of our team and are confident that his strong background and history of success in portfolio positioning, product strategy and customer engagement will help Airwide continue to enhance its market leadership position,” says Airwide CMO, Jay Seaton. “To have people such as Chris continue to join us is a reflection of the market momentum that Airwide Solutions is building.”

Brazilian Jobs for Telit

Telit Wireless Solutions, the M2M (machine-to-machine) mobile technology arm of Telit Communications PLC, has announced the appointment of six wireless industry executives to guide the launch of the company’s operations and sales force in South America. Telit will begin manufacturing the company’s M2M modules in São Paulo, Brazil, this month.
The Telit Brazil executive leadership team will be led by former Siemens Wireless Modules Customer Manager and Strategic Marketing Consultant Marcos Kinzkowski. As General Director of Telit Brazil, Kinzkowski will lead Telit’s regional sales force. His knowledge of the Brazilian wireless market and established operator and integrator relationships will play an integral role in introducing Telit’s M2M technology to the South American marketplace.
Telit has also appointed Ivan Braz as Regional Director of Manufacturing, Operations and Logistics; Hamilton Marques da Silva as Head Field Applications Engineer; Anderson Benino as Regional Sales Manager; Ricardo Stefanato Buranello as Regional Finance Manager; and Diogo Sae as Regional Sales Director
“Brazil is one of the fastest-growing wireless markets,” says Telit Communications CEO, Oozi Cats. “With the appointment of experienced leadership executives (and) the company’s innovative technology, Telit will quickly become a major player in the South American M2M industry.”

2ergo Hires Caley

2ergo has announced the appointment of Janna Caley as Marketing Communications Manager. Caley joins 2ergo from Dandara North, a Manchester-based property development company.
Her arrival follows 2ergo’s recent unveiling of a new identity and rebranding of its US arm. The company says these are key steps in its plans to achieve ambitious growth targets in the next couple of years.
“I’m really excited to be joining a company which already has a global presence and is still growing fast,” says Caley “This is also a fantastic time to be getting involved in the mobile marketing industry.”
2ergo’s products, including its Multisend platform, allow speedy, cost-effective and highly personalised interaction, through the use of text or picture messaging, email and the mobileIinternet, or combinations of these. Its customers O2, Thomas Cook and Rightmove.

Sethi Takes Sony Ericsson India Role

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications has appointed Anil Sethi to the newly-created position of President and Region Head of Sony Ericsson India with immediate effect.
Sethi joins Sony Ericsson after almost eight years with Sony Canada in Toronto, where his most recent position was Senior Vice President of Broadcast & Business Solutions and Systems Integration. Prior to this role, he completed a number of high-profile international assignments within the Sony Group, including senior business and commercial roles in Europe, India, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. During this time, Sethi established and managed Sony's first production facility in India and was closely involved in setting up the Sony Gulf regional operations, with its hub office in Dubai, and the Sony India organisation, headquartered in Delhi.
“(This) appointment underlines the growing strategic importance of India for Sony Ericsson,” Sony Ericsson President, Dick Komiyama. “We are continuing to build our operations in this market - last year we established a manufacturing presence through partners and opened our own R&D unit in Chennai - and one of Anil's focus areas going forward will be to drive our growth plan in India.”
Sethi will be based at Sony Ericsson’s Delhi office.

Voda Hires Two

Voddafone UK has announced two key marketing appointments to its consumer management team.
Phil Marsland will join Vodafone UK in the newly created role of Head of Customer Marketing on 15 September, while Charlie Smith, who has been acting as Head of Brand and Marketing Communications for the last four months has had his position made permanent. Both will report to Ian Shepherd, Vodafone UK’s Consumer Director.
Marsland joins Vodafone from American Express, where he is Head of New Product Development for its Consumer Products division internationally. He also spent eight years at financial services company Capital One where he ran its Internet channel and New Ventures division, and has also worked as a management consultant.
Smith joined Vodafone three years ago from Orange, and has worked on a number of high profile campaigns and projects, including the recent mobile Internet and mobile broadband as campaigns, as well Vodafone’s music programme.
“I’m absolutely delighted that Phil is joining us and that Charlie’s position has been made permanent,” says Shepherd. “Through our marketing, we are determined to build our brand, inspire loyalty and convince people that Vodafone is the place to be for the best mobile experience.”

Upstream Hires McDonald from Sponge

International mobile marketing agency Upstream has appointed Douglas McDonald as Business Development Director, Europe.  Based in Upstream's London office, McDonald’s role will cover the provision of high quality, consumer centric, interactive services to large consumer goods organisations on a pan-European and global basis.
McDonald joins Upstream from mobile solutions provider Sponge, where he was Client Services Director, helping the business grow from a small player to one of the UK’s leading companies in the mobile marketing space.
“Apart from the phenomenal growth and enviable client list, what impresses me the most about Upstream is the key position that creative solutions have” says McDonald. “Mobile Dialogue, the unique Upstream concept and process, produces results that actually reverse the decline on response that most mobile campaigns are seeing.”
Upstream President Marcos Veremis adds:
“We are delighted to have Douglas on board. He has worked on some of Europe’s largest promotions and will be at the forefront of showing brands that mobile marketing can be about creativity and ground-breaking consumer experiences, rather than just technical executions attached to existing marketing models.”

Tech Veteran Takes Mippin CEO Role

Mippin, the free mobile media service that makes discovering, consuming, and sharing content on mobile phones easy, has appointed Judy Gibbons as CEO. Gibbons has 25 years of technology experience at Microsoft, Apple Computer and Hewlett Packard, and has twice been ranked as one of the top 20 most influential European business women by the Wall Street Journal Europe. She joins the two original Mippin founders, Scott Beaumont and Robin Jewsbury, and retains her role as a venture partner at the leading technology investment firm Accel Partners. Her previous positions include Corporate Vice President of MSN Global Sales & Marketing at Microsoft Corp, and board member of mobile operator O2, prior to its acquisition by Telefonica.
Additionally, in advance of the launch of the iPhone 3G, Mippin has further enhanced its service for iPhone. The refined version benefits from faster performance and a number of user interface improvements that make finding, discovering and sharing interesting content more intuitive and effective.
Mippin also works perfectly well on regular handsets, bringing together a broad range of streamlined content for any mobile phone with a web browser. Mippin automatically remembers a user’s preferences and displays their favourite sites directly on the homepage, where they can also see what is popular across the Mippin community.
Since the launch of the service in October 2007 Mippin has built a worldwide audience that consumes over 10 million page views a month across 146 countries using 1,300 different devices. It has also accumulated more than 12 million stories from 20,000+ web sites, all perfectly formatted for any browser on any phone, and served over 20 million ads from partners including AdMob and Screentonic. During this time, Mippin has achieved an average clickthrough in excess of 3% with content contextual ads averaging 15%. To try Mippin, type www.mippin.com into any browser on any phone.

MIG Recruits Advisory Team

Mobile Interactive Group (MIG) has announced the appointments of Simon Guild, former President and CEO of MTV Networks Europe, Matt Cockett, former Head of Music at O2 and Paul Samuels, former Head of Sponsorship, as strategic advisors to build MIGs advisory team as the group prepares for continued expansion in 2008.
The group will advise on three core areas: Broadcast and Digital market; Music and Entertainment market; and the Digital Experiential market
Guild, with 14 years experience at MTV Networks Europe and having helped build MTV from a single brand channel in the mid 90's to a network of 75 channels and numerous, market-leading online and mobile businesses, has been brought on board to advise on the broadcast and digital markets. Guild is also Non-executive Chairman of the Kontraband Group and Non-executive Director of French Internet companies, Eyeka and Digicompanion.
As former Head of Music at O2, Matt Cockett holds key insights into the music and entertainment industry. Cockett has a strong background in mobile, having worked at Reuters and Vizzavi prior to O2. He is currently Commercial Director of New Stream Media, specialising in digital strategy, production and distribution solutions for the music and entertainment industries.
Digital Experiences is an expanding area for MIG. The company says the appointment of Paul Samuels, coupled with his detailed knowledge of this area will enable its new venture, launching later this year, to hit the ground running. During his time at O2, Samuels oversaw several large, interactive sponsorship deals in, including Big Brother, Arsenal and The O2. He is currently Executive Director of AEG sponsorship.
“The coming six months is an important time for the business,” says MIG Managing Director, Barry Houlihan. “MIG continues to experience exceptional growth and we have plans to launch two further businesses by the end of the calendar year. We have carefully selected our strategic advisory team based on their track records and incredible industry knowledge and experience.  Their input will be crucial in positioning Mobile Interactive Group as the leading communications business serving the mobile and digital platforms.”

Bytemobile Hires Zdanowicz

Bytemobile, which provides mobile Internet solutions for network operators, has announced the appointment of Zbig Zdanowicz as Sales Director, Eastern Europe. Based in Dusseldorf, Germany, Zdanowicz will be responsible for all new customer sales and management of existing Bytemobile accounts throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia, with an emphasis on Russia and the Confederation of Independent States (CIS).
Zdanowicz has 20 years of regional sales management experience in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia with technology companies including Citrix Systems, Electronics for Imaging, The Santa Cruz Operation, Acer, and Novell.  He joins Bytemobile from MetraTech, where he directed sales of telecommunications billing systems to mobile network operators in Germany and Eastern Europe. He also led sales to service providers for ComArch Software, one of the top software companies in Poland.  Zdanowicz studied Informatics and Telecommunications at Warsaw Technical University, and speaks six languages.
“This region, which bridges Central Europe and Central Asia, is poised on the threshold of 3G network deployment,” says Bytemobile Vice President and General Manager, EMEA, Bryan Visser. “As the various country markets emerge, we are enabling network operators to deliver a rich, fast, safe open Internet experience to their subscribers on any mobile device, from mass-market handsets to laptops. Zbig Zdanowicz brings to Bytemobile strong skills and experience in prospecting and closing deals, and we look forward to his contribution in the region.”
Bytemobile's Unison platform is an internet protocol (IP) services gateway node deployed in the core data path of the carrier's network. This gateway supports a “seamlessly integrated” suite of products for delivery of optimized data, web and multimedia services, with mobile advertising and parental controls, to consumers on all mobile devices and laptops. 
Unison IP services are designed to ensure a compelling user experience on the world's leading mobile browsers for both clientless and client-server applications. As the foundation of the Unison platform, dynamic optimization accelerates data traffic and reduces data volumes for handset and laptop services on all wireless networks.
Bytemobile's network installations currently span 92 operators in 53 countries, serving more than 1 billion subscribers, and 12 of the world's 15 largest Tier 1 operators. Bytemobile estimates that total data traffic on its customers' networks is growing at a rate of 10-15% per month.

Ogilvy Hires Seaborn

Brand and marketing communications agency Ogilvy Group UK has appointed Scott Seaborn as Head of Mobile Technologies. Seaborn’s mobile marketing experience will be utilised across a number of Ogilvy Group UK companies, including OgilvyOne, OgilvyAction and Ogilvy Advertising. He will report into OgilvyOne Chief Executive Mike Dodds.
Seaborn’s role will include a mix of strategic, operational and delivery functions within mobile marketing and advertising. As such, he will form the conduit between Ogilvy Group and the wider mobile technology landscape. His key focus will be on the execution of mobile marketing and advertising campaigns.
Seaborn, 36, is something of a mobile marketing industry veteran. He joins Ogilvy ffrom Magnet Harlequin, where he was Head of Marketing Technologies. Among his achievements there was the creation of ‘Snap Happy’, the UK’s first use of picture recognition as a form of visual search within mobile marketing. Among the clients he worked with were Universal Pictures, Hasbro, John Lewis, Body Shop, Costa Coffee, Borders and GSK.
While at Magnet Harlequin, Seaborn also created Borders Mobile, an industry-first mobile retail club, including mobile voucher redemption linked to the retailer’s EPOS system. The results from this ongoing project (with reported redemption rates of up to 23%) have shown a significant increase in product sales. Prior to his time at Magent Harlequin, Seaborn was at The Light Agency, the company behind the ‘Shop, Scan, Save’ mobile couponing scheme.
“Getting Scott is a real coup for us,” says OgilvyOne Chief Executive Mike Dodds. “Few people in the UK know as much about the potential of mobile marketing: he was one of its pioneers. Not only does he understand the possibilities and limitations of the technology, he also understands how it meshes with great creative ideas to provide truly engaging and useful applications for our clients and their customers. Add to that his experience of working with some of the world’s top brands, and we believe we have someone who can really help us move to the very forefront of this exciting, but as yet underdeveloped, marketing channel.” 

SpinXox Targets Microsoft Apps with New Appointment

Voice-to-screen messaging company SpinVox has announced the appointment of Todd Ferguson as Senior Director - Microsoft. The unusual job title relates to the fact that Ferguson will be charged with driving the co-development of Microsoft unified communications and enterprise applications with SpinVox services.
Ferguson joins SpinVox from Gold Systems, where he was Director of Business Development, Sales and Strategy, establishing global relationships with Microsoft, its partners and affiliates in the area of speech and unified communications. Prior to that, he was Executive Director of Business Development and sales for Intervoice, where he led the company’s efforts to penetrate markets on multiple continents.   
Since 1984, Ferguson has held a series of positions with increasing responsibility at Teleconn Communications, Macrovoice, Octel Communications, Williams Communications Solutions and KPMG Consulting, where he established consulting relationships with wireless carriers and Fortune 1000 corporations.
“Todd has a proven history of being able to facilitate integration of leading-edge Microsoft technology with services from companies like SpinVox for implementation in telecom and enterprise environments,” says SpinVox Co-founder and CEO, Christina Domecq. “This presents an enormous opportunity for our services to gain greater visibility and ultimately, mass market deployment.”

Radio Veteran Joins HipCricket Board

US mobile marketing firm HipCricket has appointed Kraig Thomas Kitchin as a Non-executive Director. Kitchin, aged 47, will join the Board of Directors with immediate effect.
Kitchin is well known in the US radio industry, having previously served as President and COO of Premiere Radio Networks for 20 years until he left to found an entertainment industry consulting firm earlier this year.
Currently the co-president of Big Shoes Productions and a founder in Sound Mind, LLC, Kitchin was also one of the founders of Premiere Radio, which launched in October 1987. At Premiere, Kitchin directed and oversaw all talk and music programming and services, featuring varied list of radio personalities. In addition, he supervised Premiere Radio’s other properties, including Mediabase 24/7, the music monitoring service; MJI Programming; and FOX Sports Radio. Kitchin says he will use his in the radio industry to join forces with HipCricket in revitalizing the current radio market in the US, with the help of mobile.
“Kraig shares our interest in making traditional media interactive, thereby satisfying broadcasters’ hunger for a new revenue driver that provides advertisers with a more effective and measurable way to market their products and services,” says HipCricket CEO, Ivan Braiker. We are thrilled to have someone of Kraig’s stature join our team in a senior advisory role.”

MMA Unveils Global Board

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has unveiled its Global Board of Directors, incorporating representation from member companies across each of the MMA’s four regional branches: North America; Europe, Middle East & Africa; Asia-Pacific; and the recently-launched Latin American branch.
The Global Board is made up of the elected Executive Committee members from each region and will be chaired by AdMob’s Russell Buckley, who will launch the new Board’s activity at its first meeting in New York following the MMA’s Mobile Marketing Forum event, which begins tomorrow. Tom Daly of The Coca-Cola Company, has been named as Global Vice-Chairman.
The MMA 2008 Global Board of Directors is as follows:

APAC
Chairman: Jimmy Poon, Managing Director, Púca China
Vice-Chairman: Matthias Kunze, Director, Mobile Monetization, Yahoo!
Treasurer & Secretary: John Maguire, Chief Commercial Officer and General Manager, Asia-Pacific, CRE8 Director at Large: Rohit Dadwal, Director Mobile, Platform and One Care, Microsoft Operations Pte.

EMEA
Chairman: Russell Buckley, Managing Director, Europe, Ad-Mob Inc
Vice-Chairman: Daniel Rosen, Managing Director, AKQA Mobile
Treasurer: Xavier Perret, Vice President, Digital Advertising Solutions, Orange Group
Director at Large: Christian Hernandez Gallardo, Strategic Partnerships, Google
Secretary: Mark Wächter, MMA Germany (BVDW Section Mobile)

LATAM
Chairman, Federico Pisani Massamormile, CEO, HANZO (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Vice-Chairman, Omarson Costa, Senior Business Development Manager - Latin America, Microsoft Corporation (São Paulo, Brazil)
Treasurer, Eduardo Jacob, CEO, MobX- Mobile Marketing ( São Paulo, Brazil)
Director at Large: Ibrahim (Aby) Mcmillan, CEO Abril Digital, Editora Abril SA (São Paulo, Brazil)
Secretary: To be announced

North America
Chairman: Tom Daly, Group Manager, Strategy & Planning, The Coca-Cola Company
Vice-Chairman: Gene Keenan, Vice-President of Mobile Services, Isobar
Treasurer: Michael Bayle, Senior Director, Global Mobile Monetization, Yahoo!
Secretary: Maria Mandel, Executive Director of Digital Innovation, OgilvyInteractive
Director at Large: Michael Becker, EVP, Business Development, iLoop Mobile, Inc.

Richard Saggers, Global Chairman Emeritus, and Laura Marriott, MMA President, round out the Global Board of Directors.
“The MMA Global Board of Directors plays a key leadership role in both the MMA and the industry by offering strategic oversight and real-world expertise, enabling the MMA to set and define the existing benchmarks for moving the mobile marketing industry forward,” says MMA President Laura Marriott. “Our thanks go to the previous Global & NA Chairman Cyriac Roeding, Global Chairman & EMEA Chairman Richard Saggers, APAC Chairman Sandy Agarwal, and each of the 2007 board members for their contributions over this past year.”

Bury Takes Mediaburst MD Role

Mobile marketing company Mediaburst has promoted Finance Director Gary Bury to the position of Managing Director. In his new position, Bury will consolidate the progress made by the company over the past year, particularly as a mobile marketing support company for marketing and advertising agencies, helping them to develop and deploy their digital media strategies.
A qualified accountant, Bury developed his skills with a fast growing group of finance companies in New Zealand. He returned to the UK in 2003 and was appointed Finance Director of property consultants Ep2, where he was instrumental in improving management reporting systems and grooming the company for an eventual trade sale in April 2005.
Bury joined Mediaburst in January 2006 as Finance Director and in August ’06, became a major shareholder and part of a new management team that bought the business. His remit was extended by the board in November ‘06 to cover all technical and operations departments. Bury's contribution to Mediaburst’s success was recognised at this year’s Fast Growth Business Awards, when he was nominated as one of three finalists for the Finance Director of Year Award.
“Mediaburst has made significant progress over the past year as a mobile marketing company and 2008/09 will see the company consolidate and build its business relationships with marketing and advertising agencies,” says Bury. “Mobile messaging campaigns are becoming essential to brands to better interact with consumers and Mediaburst has the expertise and products to help ensure their success.”

Overall Takes Sponge CTO Role

Mobile marketing solutions provider Sponge has appointed Matt Overall as Chief Technical Officer (CTO). In his new role, Overall will be responsible for all technical strategy and implementation of projects across Sponge’s client base of agencies, brands and media groups.  Overall brings a wealth of online development experience to the role, ranging from managing various start-up ventures, to his work as UK IT Manager at Reed Elsevier Group’s Martindale-Hubbell, where he was involved in implementing a pan-European platform to support localised business processes in each region. Prior to joining Sponge, Overall was IT Development Manager for Directories at LexisNexis, also part of the Reed Elsevier Group. “This is a key, senior hire for Sponge,” says CEO Dan Parker. “Matt will focus on driving improvement in all processes and procedures, while maintaining the flexibility and talent of the technical team. Appointing Matt will allow us to continue to offer excellence in mobile to Sponge customers and deliver a strong plan for the future.”

MMA Unveils Latin American Board

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has unveiled its first  Latin America (LATAM) MMA Board of Directors. The MMA LATAM branch was formed in March, reflecting the latest MMA effort to establish regional presence across the globe. The MMA LATAM Board of Directors is comprised of representatives from across the mobile marketing ecosystem, including aggregators, marketers, carriers, agencies, technology enablers and more.
“Latin America is a fast growing and exciting region for mobile marketers, and our recently formed LATAM branch continues to grow membership, bringing together the industry leaders in the region,” says MMA President, Laura Marriott. “We’re pleased to formally announce our Latin American Board of Directors, and look forward to regionalized collaboration to ultimately drive the sustainable development of the industry globally.”
The MMA’s mission is to create a sustainable industry for mobile marketing worldwide. The MMA says the Latin American board will foster regionalized leadership on the key issues affecting the industry, including industry best practices and the protection of consumer privacy.
The MMA Latin American Executive Committee is chaired by Federico Pisani Massamormile, CEO, of Brazilian company HANZO. He says:
“Mobile marketing in Latin America represents significant opportunities for brands, marketers and the entire mobile sector. We are pleased to see the diversity of leaders in the initial board of directors, which include brands, technology and wireless companies, marketers and advertising agencies that are looking to grow the potential of the Latin American market.”
Other key positions on the Board are taken by Omarson Costa, Senior Business Development Manager, Latin America, for Microsoft in Brazil (Vice-Chairman); Eduardo Jacob, CEO, of MobX- Mobile Marketing in Brazil (Treasurer); and Ibrahim (Aby) Mcmillan, CEO of Abril Digital, Editora Abril in Brazil (Director at Large). The position of Secretary is to be announced.
Additional elected individuals, founding, sustaining and/or honorary director positions include representatives from The Coca-Cola Company, The Walt Disney Company Latin America, Unilever, Yahoo! Inc., and Nielsen Mobile.