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This month’s South East appointments

Steven Marritt, Living Social

London-based local discovery engine LivingSocial has appointed Steven Marritt as chief executive officer of its UK and Ireland division.

Previously chief operations officer, he will now take sole responsibility over the business’s strategic development.

The appointment comes as LivingSocial UK/IE’s focus transitions away from a ‘daily deals’ model to being an online marketplace, working with businesses from over 30 cities to compile unique experiences, events and ‘always on’ deals.

LivingSocial UK/IE also recently launched a gift shop, an intuitive and captivating service for shoppers in the run up to Christmas and beyond.

Steven Marritt said: “Exciting times lie ahead for LivingSocial UK/IE as we plan to develop the platform further in 2015, focusing on providing novel and enriching experiences at the best prices. Having serviced over 25,000 businesses and three million customers in the past four years, we’ve learnt how nurturing a strong and loyal community is fundamental to driving return custom.

“We’re always striving to learn as much as we can about our audience, knowledge which is essential to deliver our handpicked offers to the right people. Crucially, our continued investment in technology is fuelling both personalisation for customers and flexibility for merchants. I’m excited to lead the UK and Ireland team as we take LivingSocial to the next level.”

Chris Chapman, Opinio Group

Witney-based digital recruitment specialists Opinio Group, owners of MyJobMatcher.com, have appointed Chris Chapman as interim CFO.

Founder of My Business FD, Chris has a background of over 20 years working across a variety of sectors driving growth via strategic planning, commercial analysis, fundraising, M&A, IPOs, exits, restructuring and expansion.

Opinio CTO, Arran Stewart said, “I am delighted that Chris is now involved with Opinio at such an exciting time in our development. We’ve attracted some really big hitters in the board room who are all right behind Opinio and the MyJobMatcher.com product. The company’s growing rapidly and we’re on the verge of launching MyJobMatcher.com in the States; there are going to be some very good times ahead.”

Chris said: “I’ve known Arran for several years and as soon as he talked me through MyJobMatcher.com, I was really impressed. The concept of matching people to jobs is a simple one to grasp, but it’s surprising that nobody has done it yet. With the largest pool of current vacancies at our disposal, we’re uniquely placed to make it easier for jobseekers to find their next role.”

John Perera, Sunset+Vine

London-based independant Sports TV production company, Sunset+Vine, has appointed John Perera in a commercial consultancy capacity to drive new growth opportunities for the business.

Sunset+Vine, which is part of The Tinopolis Group, has appointed Perera with immediate effect.

Until recently, Perera was the commercial director of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

Jeff Foulser, chairman of Sunset+Vine said: “Having John Perera join our team is a significant signing for us as we develop and diversify our business. His proven track record, significant experience and exemplary contacts in the world of sport, both with federations and major brands are highly valued as our business continues to grow. His appointment will help to open up new business opportunities for the company.”

John Perera, said: “I am delighted to be joining Sunset+Vine at an exciting time for their business. I look forward to working with their team in the future.”

Richard Moore, iboss Network Security

Former Smoothwall CEO, Richard Moore, has joined iboss Network Security as head of education for the EMEIA region to increase market share in the thriving education sector.

With 15 years of security experience, Richard brings unprecedented insights to build iboss Network Security’s brand profile and unique product attributes amongst IT security teams in schools, academies, Local Authorities and Public Services Networks (PSN).

Richard Moore, iboss Network Security head of education EMEIA, said: “Security threats and exploits faced by schools are constantly evolving. Together with increasing use of internet based learning, it’s a real game of cat and mouse that creates significant resource and technology challenges for the ICT team. Web security in particular is no longer simply about content filtering and antivirus.”

“We are seeing targeted security threats, which are more sophisticated and complex than ever. Schools require protection against infection and data breaches to avoid impacting on productivity and support an ever growing array of devices.”

Gav Thompson, Thunderhead.com

London customer engagement solutions provider, Thunderhead.com, has announced the appointment of Gav Thompson as chief marketing officer.

Thompson joins the executive team in a further move to scale the brand and market impact of theorganization’s ONE Engagement Hub.

Thompson brings over 20 years of experience in multiple global markets working with some of the world’s leading consumer brands including Guinness, PlayStation, Toyota, 3, Absolut, Pepsi, FedEx, Bacardi and O2.

Before joining Thunderhead.com, Thompson was the global director of business innovation at Telefonica.

In 2008, he founded giffgaff, to drive better customer engagement with O2’s digitally-enabled consumer base. He has also worked at some of the world’s leading advertising and creative agencies, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, BBDO New York, TBWA & Publicis.

Gav Thompson said: “Thunderhead.com is an amazing organization. Their capabilities blew me away.

“They have developed a brilliant technology delivering a brilliantly simple solution. Their proposition is set to change the way modern marketers think about customer engagement and it has the power to totally disrupt the way in which brands behave in the future.

“Thunderhead can make it much easier and more rewarding for customers to interact with brands, which in turn makes the opportunities for the chief marketing officer easier and more rewarding.”

Tony Posawatz, Nexeon

Abingdon-based battery materials development company Nexeon has appointed Tony Posawatz as a non-executive director (NED) with immediate effect.

Posawatz is well known in the automotive industry for leading the team that brought the award-winning Chevrolet Volt from concept to production.

He is an expert in vehicle electrification, alternative/advanced propulsion, energy and clean technology, with over 30 years’ experience, much of it at General Motors.

Tony Posawatz has experience of both very large company environments and technology start-ups, including fund-raising and business development negotiations in China/Asia.

He is president & CEO of Invictus iCAR LLC, an automotive innovation consulting firm, and serves on several boards. He is a licensed professional engineer and has an MBA from Dartmouth College.

Dr Paul Atherton, Nexeon’s chairman said: “I would like to welcome Tony to the Nexeon Board. His unrivalled experience of electric vehicle technology and the automotive industry in general will help Nexeon enormously in addressing the challenges and opportunities we face.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .