This week's London appointments

Nathalie Oestmann, Curve

Fintech banking platform Curve has appointed Nathalie Oestmann as its new chief operating officer.

With experience experience across marketing, commercial, and operations in the payments industry, Nathalie has held senior management positions at the likes of Amex, Samsung Pay and IDEMIA.

In her new role, Nathalie will take on responsibility for Operations and People, executing the strategy developed by the leadership team and ensure that all parts of the Curve organisation continue to work effectively in preparation for its expansion into Europe and the US in 2020.

Shachar Bialick, Curve founder and CEO, commented: “Nathalie is an incredibly talented and energetic force and it is testament to the heights Curve has reached that we can welcome someone of Nathalie’s calibre to the team at Curve as our new chief operating officer.

“Nathalie’s industry experience and track record make her the ideal choice to propel the team forward as we progress in our mission to move banking to the cloud and accelerate our growth.”

Commenting on her appointment, Nathalie added: “I feel privileged to be joining Curve at this pivotal moment as it scales its platform, offering, and customer base.

“My primary objective at Curve will be to ensure we realise our full potential as we take the company into our next chapter of growth.”

Sunil Chandra, OakNorth

Tech firm OakNorth has appointed Sunil Chandra as CEO of its credit platform.

Sunil from Google where he was most recently vice president. Prior to this, he was the chief operating officer (technology) at Barclays Capital for over two years, after seven and a half years as director of administration (Southeast Asia and Greater China) at McKinsey & Co.

In his new role, Sunil has relocated from San Francisco to London to lead the platform’s expansion across the US, Europe, and Asia.

Rishi Khosla, co-founder of OakNorth, commented: “The last decade has seen the growth of tremendous technology companies like Google, and Sunil was instrumental to that growth and indeed the broader industry.

“Joel and I are incredibly excited to have him join us, as we scale to meet the strong interest our platform has garnered with clients globally.

“His strong management experience and track record in scaling one of the world’s largest tech companies will help shape OakNorth’s future evolution and expansion with partner banks around the world.”

Commenting on his appointment, Sunil added: “It’s an incredible privilege to be joining the team at OakNorth. In a short period of time, the business has identified a key segment of the market that is underserved, proven that thesis with the profitable OakNorth Bank in the UK, and is now scaling the solution globally by licensing its platform to other lending institutions.

“After more than 12 years at Google, I am excited about this next challenge and look forward to building the business into what will no doubt be one of the world’s premier tech companies born out of Europe.”

Christian Craggs, Onecom

Telecommunications provider Onecom has appointed Christian Craggs as director of mergers & acquisitions and strategy.

In this newly created role, Christian will join the executive management team (EMT) and take the lead on shaping the overall business strategy for Onecom following its LDC deal.

Christian joins from independent corporate finance firm Oakley Advisory where he was managing director for four years, where he focused on mobile, fibre, B2B telecoms and managed service businesses, alongside fast growing companies in the digital and online space.

Prior to that he occupied several senior roles at O2 where he was responsible for B2B strategy and corporate development as well as the sales operations of O2’s B2B business.

Ben Dowd, CEO of Onecom commented: “We’re delighted to welcome Christian to Onecom, he’s highly respected in his field and brings with him a strong track record from Oakley Advisory where he was able to make a significant impact in relatively short order.

“As part of the LDC transaction, he worked closely with Onecom over the last year so he has a good understanding of our business and team.

“I’m confident that the proven expertise he brings to his new role will make him instrumental to Onecom at a hugely exciting point in our company’s history.”

Nina Mackie and Charlotte Cook, Bidstack

In-game advertising platform Bidstack has appointed Nina Mackie as senior director of global agency partnerships and Charlotte Cook as account director of games.

With a 22-year career in advertising, Nina initially starting in print advertising in Scotland before progressing into digital. Her breadth of knowledge spans from editorials in the Trinity Mirror to digital ad platforms across mobile, WIFI, DOOH and programmatic.

Nina commented: “Bidstack is one of the most exciting start-ups in London at the moment and is already disrupting the industry with a revolutionary new channel that straddles digital advertising as a whole.”

With a gaming publishing and distribution background, Charlotte has worked on launching titles such as Grand Theft Auto, BioShock, Borderlands, Total War and Football Manager. In addition, she was also a part of the team that created the campaign for Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympics.

Commenting on her appointment, Charlotte said: “I’m really looking forward to bringing my experience and knowledge of gaming to the Bidstack team, to help evolve the business and learn more about the media and advertising world.”

James Draper, Bidstack CEO, added: “Charlotte and Nina have proven track records in their previous roles and are recognised experts in their fields of work.

“The invaluable knowledge and understanding they share in both the gaming and advertising industries respectively shows the level of talent we attract.”

Jack Price, ThinCats

Fintech SME lender ThinCats has appointed Jack Price as associate director for business development covering London and the South East.

Jack joins the firm from Santander, where he progressed from the bank’s corporate & commercial banking graduate programme to the role of relationship manager and most recently associate director.

In his new role, Jack will support business development directors with originating, structuring, writing and overseeing the delivery of a range of lending facilities across the business.

Jack commented: “Across the market we are seeing many SMEs turn to finance providers like ThinCats to support their growth ambitions.

“I look forward to being part of a business that is providing crucial funding for growing SMEs in the short and long-term. ThinCats’ winning combination of data and experienced business development directors enables its tremendous success.”

Damon Walford, chief development officer at ThinCats, added: “We are delighted to have Jack joining us. Jack will work alongside our business development team, shaping and structuring deals for SMEs across London and the South East.

“Jack’s experience means he will be dealing with businesses and their advisers across all industry sectors from initial enquiry through to deal completion.”

David Hammond, Signal

Digital and data specialist agency Signal has appointed David Hammond as consultant.

David started his career at Accenture, later working as a freelance strategist advising brands including Tesco, Nokia and McDonalds on marketing and digital strategy.

He joins Signal’s Consultancy team headed up by Ed Knight, former Head of Marketing Transformation for Lloyds Banking Group, and Sam Poole, who leads the agency’s Data & Insight Practice.

Barney Hosey, Signal’s managing director, commented: “The addition of David to our Consultancy team strengthens our focus on innovative client collaboration, and reinforces our recruitment strategy of hiring people with both consulting and client-side experience.

“Our ability to advise in-house teams, with the credibility of saying ‘we’ve done this before’, makes us more empowering to work with.”

David added: “I’m excited to be joining Signal. The agency combines a strategic approach, with the practical ability to get things done and deliver real improvements for clients.”

Brandon Keenen and Greg Beitchman, Antstream Arcade

Retro game subscription service Antstream Arcade has appointed Brandon Keenen as chief marketing officer and Greg Beitchman as chief development officer.

Most recently a senior digital commercial director at CNN, Brandon brings with him over 15 years of experience in marketing, as well as experience as a keynote speaker and panellist across various industry events such as VivaTech-Paris, Adweek Europe and IAB.

Brandon commented: “I am fired up to join the Antstream Arcade team and look forward to continue rolling our retro games platform out to the UK, Europe and North America.

“I truly believe this platform has incredible potential to continue the revival of retro and put smiles on the faces of gamers everywhere!”

Also joining from CNN, Greg Beitchman led the company’s distribution revenues, business development and the launch of local CNN platforms in markets around the world through partnerships and licensing.

In his new role, Ben will be responsible for building relationships with current and future IP partners, developing partnerships with Telcos and OTT/IPTV providers, and building out Antstream Arcade’s content proposition.

Commenting on his appointment, Greg said: “I’ve always been a gamer – retro games were literally my first contact with digital content, so I am excited to be part of Antstream Arcade.”

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