This week's London appointments

Charlie Carpenter, Creativebrief

Marketing consultancy Creativebrief has promoted managing director Charlie Carpenter to CEO.

Charlie, who has been in the role of managing director for five years, has overseen the firm’s work with brands such as Starbucks, Britvic, Uber, Guinness and PlayStation.

Creativebrief founder & chairman, Tom Holmes, commented: “Charlie has been with Creativebrief since launch and was one of the few people to sit around my kitchen table in those early days; he knows the business inside-out and is pivotal to our growth and future vision.

“Under his watch as MD we have gained total clarity of purpose and heavily re-invested in technology to take us into the future.

“With Charlie as CEO and a growing senior team around him I’m extremely excited that 2020 and beyond is going to be a transformational next phase for the business.”

Charlie added: “It’s such an exciting time to be a part of Creativebrief with all the changes that we’re making. But we’ve also never had a clearer sense of self and our role in the industry.

“We exist to challenge modern marketers, to build modern brands, with modern agencies – and the simplicity of that focus has been liberating.”

Peter Barrand and Azim Hosein, Newable

SME support firm Newable has appointed Peter Barrand as managing director of Newable Capital and Azim Hosein as managing director of strategy and acquisitions.

Formerly of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Peter joins Newable from advisory firm Ignition Corporate Finance where he was a founding partner.

Azim joined Newable in September 2016 as head of corporate development. He obtained his ACA qualification at Deloitte and is a CFA charter holder, with corporate development experience across a range of sectors including energy and consumer products.

Commenting on the appointments, Chris Manson, Newable CEO, said: “We are delighted to have Peter and Azim on board as we look to take our growth to the next level, underlining our ambitions to support and grow a significant and increasingly valuable portfolio of thriving businesses.”

“In the first nine months of activity, Newable Capital has generated a significant deal flow, while on the acquisitions side we have made a number of headline purchases recently including the flexible office provider Citibase, Newable’s largest single acquisition to date.”

Lawrence Watts, Collinson

Customer specialist Collinson has appointed Lawrence Watts as head of insurance.

In his new role, Lawrence will lead the insurance strategy of the firm, developing its travel and health insurance propositions as well as supporting a recent broadening of Collinson’s underwriting focus into other insurance lines of business.

Lawrence joined Collinson five years ago as business development director for the insurance and assistance divisions.

Prior to this, Lawrence held several strategic relationship management and sales positions over 15 years, working with financial services companies including Aviva, AXA Insurance and Lloyds Bank.

David Evans, joint CEO at Collinson, commented: “We are delighted that Lawrence is now leading our Insurance division.

“He is ideally placed to take on this role and to continue our expansion in Insurance within and beyond Europe. Lawrence will continue to drive our ongoing strategy to deliver a customer-centric approach across product design, delivery and service provision.

“His knowledge and expertise will be invaluable in helping us to continue to drive clearer responsibilities and accountabilities and to roll out further some of the exciting new initiatives we have delivered during 2019.”

Lawrence, added: “It’s a great opportunity to lead the insurance executive and be at the helm of a successful team of insurance experts.

“I’m very much looking forward to bringing some fresh perspectives and continuing our strategic vision to provide truly competitive and compelling propositions for our clients and their customers.”

Kate Swann, Secret Escapes

Members-only travel firm Secret Escapes has appointed Kate Swann as non-executive chairman.

Kate is currently chair of gift brand Moonpig.com and veterinary specialist IVC Evidensia.

From 2013 to 2019, Kate was chief executive of SSP Group. Prior to this, she was chief executive of WH Smith for nearly ten years, and has also previously held senior positions at Argos, Homebase and Coca-Cola.

Kate brings experience of operating and expanding international businesses of size and scale, and will lead Secret Escapes Group as it continues to execute its growth strategy, integrate acquisitions and develop the business further.

Mark Giblin, Telaria

Video publishing software platform Telaria has appointed Mark Giblin as head of demand.

Giblin was most recently VP of business development at Unruly, part of News Corp. In this role he was responsible for growing the Unruly Exchange business and led the team’s managing relationships with programmatic demand partners across both the US and EMEA.

Prior to this, Giblin held a variety of roles at companies including PubMatic, The Financial Times and The Telegraph.

Bill Swanson, VP of EMEA at Telaria, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Mark to the Telaria team.

“With advertisers across Europe increasing their budgets for premium video in multiple channels such as CTV, OTT and mobile, Mark will play a vital role in ensuring our innovative product suite remains aligned with the changing needs of the major video demand platforms and their advertisers.

“By building and maintaining strong relationships with demand partners, Mark will be instrumental in positioning the business for continued growth. From a personal perspective it will be great to work directly with Mark again.”

Commenting on his appointment, Mark added: “Joining the company at a time of accelerated growth provides exciting opportunities to deliver the desirable audiences advertisers require and maximise the performance of ad campaigns as the digital video and CTV ecosystem evolves.”

Harvey Ayliffe, D&D London

Hospitality group D&D London has appointed Harvey Ayliffe as executive chef at Chelsea venue Bluebird.

Bringing over 30 years of experience to the role, Harvey has worked at high-end London restaurants such as Rules, J Sheekey, Le Caprice, The Ivy and Soho House.

Harvey spent the last five years working as head chef at grill restaurant 34 Mayfair, specialising in Argentinian-inspired dishes.

Harvey commented: “I’m really excited about my next adventure at Bluebird and to be working with D&D London.

“We’ve taken a lot of inspiration from past classic Bluebird dishes in creating the new menu, but I’m keen to evolve the menu over time and find new classics that are right at home at Bluebird, too.”

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