Highlights
Javier Soltero has been promoted to corporate vice president overseeing Microsoft’s Cortana digital assistant, Axios reports.
“If I was to leave Microsoft and start another company I would be doing something related to voice,” Soltero said. “It’s exciting. It’s challenging.”
Before heading the Cortana team, Soltero was in charge of Microsoft’s mobile versions of its Outlook software.
Discovery Communications and Scripps Networks Interactive have merged, leading to a slew of executive shakeups. Rich Ross, group president of the Discovery Channel and Science Channel, will depart the newly merged companies. Additionally, Kathleen Finch, formerly chief programming, content and brand officer for Scripps Networks, will assume the position of chief lifestyle brands officer for the new conglomerate.
Consumer packaged goods giant Del Monte Foods has appointed Bibie Wu as its newest CMO.
“Bibie’s wealth of knowledge will bring a fresh perspective in helping us unlock growth for our great brands,” said Greg Longstreet, CEO of Del Monte Foods. “By organizing R&D under her direction along with marketing and innovation, we will create improved synergies in bringing our products to market.”
Wu most recently served as vice president of marketing and head of laundry conditioners and home care at Henkel, leading omnichannel marketing efforts for Snuggle, Renuzit and Soft Scrub.
Calvin Klein has finally filled its empty CMO seat, tapping Marie Gulin-Merle for the role. The previous holder of the title, Melisa Goldie, resigned in 2016, and at the time the company reported it would not be seeking a replacement.
Gulin-Merle joins the clothing line from L’Oreal USA, where she has served as CMO for the past four years.
Karl-Heinz Maurath, chief revenue officer at Under Armour, has announced his upcoming retirement in March.
“Under [Karl-Heinz’s] direction, we have grown from an American company selling product in other countries to a successful international business of more than $1 billion in revenue,” said Patrik Frisk, Under Armour president and COO. “With an incredibly strong foundation, we look forward to building on his great work as this team continues to grow our global footprint, delivering the Under Armour experience to athletes around the world.”
Maurath has been with Under Armour since 2012, reaching the position of CRO in 2015.
Google has poached Ashwin Ram, former senior manager and lead for Alexa AI, from Amazon. His new title will be technical director of AI for Google Cloud.
“Google arguably has the best AI on the planet; my role will be to help make that AI even better and broadly available to everyone,” Ram wrote in a post on LinkedIn. “I’ve had an awesome couple of years at Amazon Alexa working with some of the smartest people I know. Delighted to have had the opportunity to create and lead Alexa Prize and to experience this legendary Day 1 company from the inside.”
Pinterest has brought on its first-ever chief operating officer—Francoise Brougher will manage and grow the social network’s worldwide sales, marketing and corporate operations.
“We are really excited that Francoise is joining Pinterest as our first Chief Operating Officer,” said Ben Silbermann, CEO and co-founder of Pinterest. “She is a world-class manager and a sharp strategic thinker. Francoise’s experience is going to be an incredible asset for our company and our mission of helping people discover and do what they love.”
Most recently, Brougher served at Square as its business lead and before that was vice president of SMB global sales and operations at Google.
David Flynn has joined Paramount Television as executive vice president of international strategy, where he will track and acquire intellectual property for Paramount’s library.
“David has a keen eye for identifying ambitious content from premier content creators worldwide,” said Amy Powell, president of Paramount TV, to Deadline. “He will be a tremendous asset to our team as we work to disrupt the global content creation model, bringing the unique voices and storytelling of local creators to television audiences worldwide.”
Flynn joins Paramount from UTA, where he worked as a literary agent for over 10 years.
Accenture has hired a new managing director for its cybersecurity practice in Canada, Ahmed Etman.
“In today’s marketplace, cybersecurity is critical to any business, and I am excited for the opportunity to help our clients create and run leading-edge security strategies aligned specifically to their industry and unique business goals,” Etman said. “Now, more than ever, organizations must be proactive in addressing cyber risks, and I look forward to helping our clients tackle these challenges putting in place strategies and technologies that result in effective security capabilities.”
Etman joins Accenture from Cisco, where he led the company’s business in emerging markets.
Engagement marketing software provider Marketo has tapped Arun Anantharaman for the role of chief product officer, filling a gap created by the promotion of Manoj Goyal to chief technology officer.
“Arun has a customer-obsessed mindset, which is one of our core values. That, combined with his decades of experience in building high-scale enterprise marketing solutions, will drive profound benefit for our customers,” said Steve Lucas, Marketo’s CEO. “Arun’s vision for the future of MarTech will further establish Marketo as the de facto platform for marketers.”
Anantharaman joins the company from Adobe, where he spent 17 years, most recently as senior vice president of products and operations for its Experience Cloud product.
The Rest Of The C-Suite
(Editor’s Note: Our weekly careers post is updated daily. This installment will be updated until Friday, March 2. Have a new hire tip? Let us know at editorial@alistdaily.)
Michael Minter has joined DC Shoes as it global head of marketing, where he will attempt to broaden the skateboarding apparel brand’s appeal to general audiences.
“We are excited to have Michael join the DC family in this capacity,” said Mike Jensen, DC Shoes global general manager. “He is passionate, forward thinking and strategic with a proven track record in invigorating brands and aligning organizations for growth.”
Minter previously served as vice president of creative at KEEN, another footwear company.
Hertz has hired Paul Stone as executive vice president and chief retail operations officer for the North America region.
“Paul is a proven leader with experience from arguably the top retailer (Walmart) and has success driving process excellence, developing top talent and building high-performing teams,” said Kathryn V. Marinello, president and chief executive officer of Hertz. “His sincere passion for people and his depth of operations expertise will be a tremendous asset to our already strong bench of talent.”
Stone worked with Walmart for almost 30 years before joining Hertz, reaching the level of Western US divisional senior vice president.
Jonathan Adashek has been promoted to global vice president of communications at Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi.
Adashek has been with the company since 2015, when served as chief communications officer for Nissan alone.
Aventus, a blockchain-based ticketing startup, has appointed Andrew Ford as its CMO.
“Hiring a world-class leader in technology marketing like Andrew represents a milestone for our initiative,” said Annika Monari, cofounder of Aventus. “Andrew is the perfect person to lead the effort of shaping and bringing our brand and blockchain protocol to market.”
Before joining Aventus, Ford held the same title at Red Box Software, and before that was vice president of marketing and communication for Pitney Bowes.
L’Oréal has appointed Jean-Claude Le Grand as executive vice president of human resources, succeeding Jérôme Tixier, who is stepping aside.
“He has excelled in his missions of detection, recruitment and development of L’Oréal’s talents in all countries and across all functions,” the company said in a statement to WWD.
Le Grand first joined L’Oréal in 1996, becoming human resources director for the company’s active cosmetics division six years later.
Geoffrey Covert, CEO of 99 Cents Only Stores, has announced his retirement, appointing Jack Sinclair as his replacement.
“I am privileged to serve with a team that has laid a solid foundation for success and that delivers unparalleled value and a unique customer experience.=, Sinclair said. “We look forward to continued growth, welcoming new customers to our existing stores and introducing our stores to new communities. We have ambitious goals and our growth trajectory is just beginning.”
Sinclair has been with the company since 2015, when he joined as its chief merchandising and marketing officer.
Job Vacancies
| Product Manager – APIs | Ayzenberg | Pasadena, CA |
| Chief Communications Officer | Columbia University | New York, NY |
| SVP, Cobrand Partner Chief Decision Management Officer | Citi | Elk Grove Village, IL |
| VP, Marketing Strategy, Planning & Analytics | Pandora | Oakland, CA |
| Director, Global Creative Marketing (Global Series) | Netflix | Los Angeles, CA |
| VP, Sales & Marketing | The Washington Times | Washington, DC |
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