Openings and New Hires at JiWire, UBL, Groupon, Booker, Telenav & More

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Every two weeks, Search Influence’s Kelly Benish — who knows practically everyone in hyperlocal — covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. (Plus: Scroll down for jobs on offer now.)

Mike Fordyce, David Staas — JiWire
JiWire
has seen big changes in the last year, including the quiet departure of founder Kevin McKenzie to Westfield Labs as global chief digital officer in May. Lindsey Thomas, the company’s former director of PR and marketing, also left in the spring for Westfield Labs, the digital arm of shopping center conglomerate Westfield Group. David Staas, who had been senior vice president of marketing at JiWire, was appointed interim CEO in March while the company undertook a search. During his tenure, the company launched its Location Graph product, which uses location signals to identify user profiles and target ads to them. This week, the company named Mike Fordyce CEO. Fordyce joins from YP, where he was senior vice president of business development. Staas becomes president.

Kal Raman — Groupon
Struggling Groupon promoted the well-respected executive Kal Raman this week from vice president of global sales and operations to COO, filling a position that had been open since September 2011 when Margo Georgiadis left to rejoin Google. Raman is the company’s third COO in two years. It’s hard to say whether the former eBay exec’s new role will make a difference for the deals company, but talk around Raman’s appointment focused on more expansion overseas.

Paul Donlan, Jessica Hann — Universal Business Listing
At my old alma mater, Universal Business Listing, Paul Donlan recently joined as vice president of business development and international partnerships. With 20 years of experience in U.S. and international directories, Donlan has been CEO of 3L Media, founder of Oz Pages in Australia, and an executive at JPM Media, net-linx, and Telstra. UBL also named Jessica Hann its new director of strategic account management; she previously ran the local search division at New York interactive agency Steak Digital.

Niels Meersschaert — LocalResponse
LocalResponse
has named Niels Meersschaert to the position of senior vice president of technology. Meersschaert has a large portfolio and many years of creating proprietary advertising software for Magnetic, where he was a founding employee and principal architect. He has also worked for BusinessWeek and Gucci. His new focus will be building new products, product testing, and enhancement of the LocalResponse advertising platform that helps marketers respond to real-time consumer intent.

Holly Tennant Billy — LivingSocial
Holly Tennant Billy
recently told LivingSocial she is heading over to Troop Swap, an interesting new deal platform exclusive to military members and their families. Much like the virtual version of the base exchange, Troop Swap provides deals unique to the military community. As vice president of business development (the same role she held at Living Social), patriot and networking genius Holly will help build their subscription base.

Where to look for jobs now…

LocalVox is hiring for 10 positions in sales, client support, development, and product. Apply Here

Booker (formerly GramercyOne) is looking for a sales representative. Apply Here

Apple seeks a vice president of partnerships and innovation. Apply Here

Twitter is hiring a platform operations analyst. Apply Here

Telenav is looking for a director of acquisition marketing. Apply Here

Facebook has an opening for a head of global small business marketing communications. Apply Here

Google is searching for an enterprise cloud platform sales manager. Apply Here

See job listings in previous Movers & Shakers columns.

Kelly Benish is VP of sales and marketing at Search Influence, the premier provider of platform based solutions for resellers like newspapers, publishers and digital agencies. We give you the ability to offer your customers the new media advertising services they’re looking for like SEO, Social Media Marketing and PPC without development costs. Increase your customer base and help your customers grow their businesses with our targeted, scalable solutions. You can follow her on Twitter @Lokellsearch.

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Kelly is Global VP of Strategic Partnerships at Uberall