Openings and New Hires at Verve Mobile, UpCity, xAd,Truecaller

Every two weeks, Kelly Benish — who knows practically everyone in local — covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. (Plus, scroll down for jobs on offer now.)

Brad Herman – Verve Mobile
Verve Mobile announced the appointment of its first chief business development officer, Brad Herman. The announcement comes on the heels of last week’s appointment of Nada Stirratt as CEO.  Herman will be responsible for Verve’s go-to-market strategy and accelerating strategic partnerships and business development. He was most recently video ad platform Videology’s chief media officer, where he was responsible for all media operations, sales and product strategy. He also previously worked for Stirratt at MTV Networks, where he was SVP of digital operations.

Brandon Starkoff – xAd
xAd has hired Brandon Starkoff, who worked for the last two decades worked at Starcom Media Group (SMG) as an early driver of mobile technology and advertising. He established SMG’s Mobile Center of Excellence and worked with device manufacturers and service providers. As VP of global brands and agencies based in Chicago, Starkoff will leverage his experience to drive strategy and relationships with global agencies and marketers that maximize growth opportunities in mobile advertising and location-based insights. xAd has also expanded from the UK to France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

Kelly Travis – Charlotte Business Journal
The one and only Kelly Travis was just brought on by Charlotte Business Journal (part of Advance Digital) as their audience development director. She now has the role of leading a team to grow their print and digital audience, as well as their event engagement through sales, business development and marketing. Prior to this role, Kell was the empress of engagement at BuyGitomer and Publisher at Stephens Media a few years back.

Rick Bastian – UpCity
UpCity has snagged some top talent from Dex. Rick Bastian is leaving his role as premium digital services manager at Dex for a channel partner and development contractor role at UpCity. He will join Dan Olsen there, and with over 10 years of consulting, sales and product experience, he should be a great asset in the new role.

Tom Hsieh – Truecaller
Truecaller recently announced the appointment of Tom Hsieh as its new VP of growth and partnerships. Tom will be overseeing their team from their new office in SF, which will now serve as its global engineering, sales and marketing hub. Tom is the former head of strategic partnerships at Dropbox, and was previously at Zynga, Google and a VP at Spotify, where he helped found the SF office and led the partnerships between Facebook and Twitter. This is a big win for the company as it looks to double down global expansion efforts and continues its commitment to evolve the mobile phonebook experience for hundreds of millions of consumers globally.

Also on the move: Brad Churchill was recently promoted from market manager to regional VP at YP. Scott Feder blows out the candles for his 1 year anniversary at Surefire Social… Andrea Mooney celebrates 3 years at The Houston Chronicle… Andrew Grill just became the global managing partner at IBM… and Swipely went through a round of layoffs earlier this week.

Plus where to look for jobs now…

Evolve Media is on the prowl for an SVP of marketing. Apply here

Location3 is hiring all kinds of roles, check it out and apply here.

LookBooker is seeking experienced sales executives and a chief consumer officer. Apply here.

BrainWorks is looking for a VP of marketing communications. Apply here.

CivicScience is on the prowl for multiple roles. Inquire here

Soleo is hiring a digital media program manager. Apply here.

NBC Universal seeks a social media account coordinator. Apply here

Prosper is on the prowl for a VP of intelligence. Apply here.

Amazon is hiring a marketing specialist. Apply here.

PocketMath is looking for an Account Manager in Washington D.C. Apply here.

Where2getit is hiring for almost a dozen roles, check it out and apply here.

Gannett is on the hunt for a VP of sales. Apply here.

Marriott seeks a VP of digital acquisition. Apply here.

Moz seeks business development talent based  in Seattle. Apply here.

Plus new talent looking now….

A yellowpage veteran with a broad understanding of the digital advertising industry, most recently his focus was market & competitor intelligence and marketing insights.  His background touches a broad range of functions giving me a unique perspective that helps guide senior management with insights affecting strategy, marketing, sales, finance and operations.

New Orleans-based sales and digital transformational talent, has trained hundreds of sales reps and transformed two major media companies into highly profitable digital sales organizations.

Los Angeles big wig marketing talent, formerly a VP at a national marketing organization.

CEO for hire based in Dallas — with 20+ years of history in startups, revenue growth, funding and management.

Business Development leader in Seattle – with more than 15 years of growing major national accounts and leading one of the top marketing platforms in the U.S.

Texas-based local search guru and key executive. Incredibly talented, motivated and seeking a new opportunity.

Ohio-based revenue driver, interested in a new challenge. He has over 15 years of experience in local, sales, consulting and strategy.

L.A. based talent with a history in sales growth seeking a strategic advisory role, currently VP of Business Development at a national firm.

Business Development talent in the Los Angeles area, showing excellence in the online marketing space with over 10 years of experience.

Veteran in the digital media and paid advertising space. He’s located in Seattle and looking to move yesterday. He has the know-how and experience to bring the next company very far.
If you are interested in any of these candidates or you would like to be featured as such, please e-mail me at [email protected] for more information.

Kelly Benish is VP of publisher development at CivicScience. You can follow her on Twitter @Lokellsearch.