The Mobile Top 50 2015

Mobile Top 50 - 2015

Published in association with Millennial Media, the list highlights the individuals excelling in the mobile space, including brand side marketers, mobile telcos, agencies and publishers – those championing mobile as a channel, influencing spend and thinking, and reflecting the best of the industry.

The Mobile Top 50 was curated by a panel of judges following an industry call for nominations.

Rank	Name	Job Title	Company / Organisation
1	Ben Phillips	global head of mobile	MediaCom
	Named number one in The Drum’s Mobile Top 50 2015, Ben Phillips has spent over a decade in the mobile space working across all disciplines of the sector’s ecosystem. Phillips joined MediaCom as... View Profile
2	Jonathan Milne	chief revenue officer	Celtra
	Jonathan Milne was named chief revenue officer of creative tech agency Celtra in September 2015. He joined the firm in March 2011 as general manager, EMEA, before also taking responsibility for... View Profile
3	Alex Kozloff	marketing director	Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB)
	Now marketing director at the IAB, Alex Kozloff cut her teeth at IPG media agency Initiative. She moved into mobile and joined Orange in 2007 where she managed media research before taking up the... View Profile
4	Milton Elias	head of mobile and tech futures	OMD
	Formerly a performing artist, Milton Elias kicked off his career in mobile and digital marketing at Publicis Groupe-owned Phonevalley in Paris as a media planner. He then moved on to Starcom... View Profile
5	Claire Valoti	director of agency partnerships	Facebook
	Director of agency partnerships at Facebook UK, Claire Valoti is responsible for delivering ad revenue, working with agencies and clients alike. Alongside the UK... View Profile
6	Ross Sleight	chief strategy officer	Somo
	Ross Sleight has spent the past two decades working in digital and has been a founding member of six digital businesses. At Somo he advises the likes of Red Bull and Universal Music on how to... View Profile
7	Ilicco Elia	head of mobile	DigitasLBi
	There has never been anything other than digital in Illicco Elia’s working life. Straight out of university, he found himself at the “digital through and through” Reuters where he rolled out a new... View Profile
8	James Connelly	founder and chief executive	Fetch
	James Connelly started Fetch six years ago from scratch, in 2014 it was snapped up by Dentsu Aegis Network for an estimated £30m. He told The Drum at the time that being part of a global network... View Profile
9	Mark Slade	managing director, EMEA	Opera Mediaworks
	With over a decade of experience in mobile, three last years has seen Mark Slade expand Opera Mediaworks from a London startup to a European mobile consultancy. After founding 4th Screen... View Profile
10	James Chandler	global mobile director	Mindshare
	James Chandler has spent the last eight years at Mindshare, serving as UK head of mobile for two years and for the last 18 months as global head of mobile. His focus over the past 12 months has... View Profile
11	Theo Theodorou	general manager, EMEA	xAd
	View Profile
12	Russell Buckley	partner	Ballpark Ventures
	Russell is chairman of mobile marketing firms LoopMe, Touch Surgery, TapDaq and Constant Commerce, as well as an early stage investor with the newly formed, Spring Partners. In his UK government... View Profile
13	James Hilton	global chief executive	M&C Saatchi Mobile
	James Hilton founded M&C Saatchi Mobile (formally Inside Mobile), almost 10 years ago with the aim of providing international mobile marketing solutions “with a creative edge”. Coming top of... View Profile
14	Daniel Rosen	global advertising director	Telefónica
	View Profile
15	Erfan Djazmi	head of planning and mobile	Essence
	Erfan is head of planning and mobile at digital agency Essence. In his decade-long career he has enjoyed working with a broad range of clients across financial services, FMCG, media,... View Profile
16	Zac Pinkham	managing director, EMEA	Millennial Media
	Starting his career at GCapMedia, formerly Capital Radio Group, Zac Pinkham found himself as the only person in the building who (at the time) knew what CPM stood for. With more than 12 years in... View Profile
17	David Skerrett	managing partner	Nimbletank
	Now managing partner at Nimbletank, David Skerrett was previously head of mobile at R/GA and before that Havas. He has worked in digital for 15 years. Over the past seven months, his agency has... View Profile
18	Nigel Clarkson	managing director	Weve
	View Profile
19	Harry Dewhirst	president	BlisMedia
	After studying Music in Warwick, Harry Dewhirst started his mobile career in 2006 at PlayPhone where he led customer acquisition. In 2008 he co-founded mobile advertising agency RingRing Media,... View Profile
20	Libby Robinson	managing director, EMEA	M&C Saatchi Mobile
	Libby Robinson leads the EMEA region for M&C Saatchi Mobile. She has extensive international experience in full service, digital and mobile agencies, having run a digital agency in Australia... View Profile
21	Paul Wright	iAd director, EMEIA and APAC	Apple
	Paul Wright was appointed to the role of director of EMEIA at iAd, Apple’s mobile advertising network, in 2013, heading up the European, Middle East, India and Africa regions. Apple launched iAd... View Profile
22	Matt Miller	founder	ustwo
	View Profile
23	Simon Andrews	founder	Addictive
	Simon Andrews has worked in digital for 20 years. He believes that “the social and mobile landscape means the opportunity now is more exciting than ever.” In the last year his agency’s focus has... View Profile
24	Mick Rigby	chief executive	Yodel Mobile
	Mick Rigby began his advertising careers as a TV buyer in the 90s and eventually moved into media and account planning, working at a number of full-service and media agencies before founding his... View Profile
25	Neil Bruce	head of mobile, UK	Mindshare
	Neil Bruce joined Mindshare in September 2014 from mobile specialist agency Somo. Prior to Somo he worked at OMD International and Starcom MediaVest. At Mindshare, he champions the use of mobile... View Profile
26	John Stoneman	general manager, Europe	TripleLift
	Having originally trained as a journalist working on national newspapers, John Stoneman moved into digital as part of the launch team of MSN.co.uk. He spent many years working in the mobile... View Profile
27	Dara Nasr	sales director, UK	Twitter
	Dara Nasr kickstarted his career in TV, working at IDS for six years and then Eurosport for two years. In 2007 he joined Google where he spent over five years which culminated in him leading the... View Profile
28	Scott Curtis	European mobile strategy and development director	Starcom MediaVest Group
	Scott Curtis joined Starcom MediaVest group in 2008 as a digital executive. He worked his way through various roles in the UK, and then internationally, where he helped to diversify clients from pure... View Profile
29	Sienne Veit	director of online product	John Lewis
	View Profile
30	Stephen Upstone	chief executive and co-founder	LoopMe
	With 18 years’ experience working in adtech, of which 10 have been in the mobile industry, Upstone is currently chairman of the UK Mobile Marketing Association. Working as part of the senior... View Profile
31	Todd Tran	global senior vice-president of programmatic and mobile	Teads
	With a 14-year career in digital and mobile advertising, Todd Tran has previously held posts as managing director, international at Millennial Media and general manager, EMEA at Apple's iAd.... View Profile
32	Alex Newman	head of mobile, EMEA	OMG
	View Profile
33	Alistair Hill	chief executive and co-founder	On Device Research
	View Profile
34	Chris Babayode	managing director, EMEA	MMA Global
	View Profile
35	Ben Rickard	digital partner and head of mobile, EMEA	MEC
	Ben Rickard has led teams on client-side, agency-side and as a startup entrepreneur. In 2012 he created JWT Mobile, a joint venture with J Walter Thomson, and became its first European head of... View Profile
36	Stefan Bardega	global chief digital officer	ZenithOptimedia
	Stefan Bardega has 15 years’ digital experience. Last year he joined ZenithOptimedia to lead the agency’s global digital operation overseeing 2,000 industry experts across search, display, video... View Profile
37	Fiona Stevenson	director, mobile marketing	Hotels.com
	View Profile
38	Mark Brennan	head of mobile	Manning Gottlieb OMD
	View Profile
39	Nik Dewar	head of connected device and amazon marketing services Europe	Amazon
	View Profile
40	Nick Buckley	global head of digital media and mobile marketing	Sony Mobile
	Nick Buckley is currently head of digital media and mobile marketing globally at Sony Mobile. He has worked in the industry for 10 years. Prior to his current role Buckley managed mobile... View Profile
41	Emily Sears	head of digital	Google Media Lab
	View Profile
42	Paul Berney	managing partner	mCordis
	Paul is the managing partner, EMEA and co-founder of mCordis with over 10 years of experience in mobile marketing. He has over 25 years’ experience in a wide variety of sales, marketing, business... View Profile
43	Jana Sievers	head of demand, EMEA, MoPub	Twitter
	Jana Sievers describes herself as “a mobile native”, who has worked in the mobile industry since the very beginning of her career. An international business graduate from the Berlin School of... View Profile
44	Richard Hocking	vice-president, performance marketing	King
	View Profile
45	Jon Hook	vice-president, performance marketing	Phunware
	Jon Hook currently leads performance marketing and user acquisition at Phunware. Prior to joining Phunware, he was head of mobile at MediaCom. In 2010 he co-founded Odyssey Mobile who were... View Profile
46	Lee Fels	head of mobile and video	The Guardian
	View Profile
47	Jess Butcher	co-founder and director	Blippar
	Jess Butcher is the co-founder of augmented reality app Blippar. She kick-started the brand’s commercial, marketing and communication functions, earning the app earning over 60 million downloads... View Profile
48	Liam Pook	mobile director	Essence
	Having spent the first six years of his career as a mobile ambassador within digital roles at digital and media agencies, Pook took up the role of mobile director EMEA at Essence in 2014. He says... View Profile
49	Scott Seaborn	global mobile strategy and product director	Aimia
	Scott recently joined Aimia Inc as global mobile and strategy director. He is also a trustee at D&AD. Since 2004 he has won a number of international awards for mobile, including multiple... View Profile
50	Jide Sobo	head of mobile	MEC
	Jide Sobo is responsible for driving the growth of the mobile channel at MEC. He brings rich experience in mobile with over 12 years of direct industry experience. He started working for mobile... View Profile

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