This week's London appointments

Jenni Evans, Born Social

Social media agency, Born Social, has announced Jenni Evans as senior new business manager.

Jenni joins the agency from the Accenture-owned ad agency Karmarama where she held the role of new business and marketing manager, helping the agency secure global brands, including: Lidl, Nando’s, Halfords, NCS, Arla Foods, Just Eat and Confused.com.

Jenni also created the network Represent Creative to provide advice for women seeking creative careers and was awarded a WACL Talent Award 2021, celebrating emerging future female leaders working in media, marketing, advertising and communications.

Ed Knight, head of new business & marketing, Born Social, said: “Jenni brings a superb background in fast growing agencies, brands, and intermediaries. We’re hugely excited about what Jenni will bring to the New Business and Marketing team and how she can help to continue to drive our growth over the coming years..”

Commenting on her new role at Born Social, Jenni said: “I’m over the moon to join Born Social at such an exciting stage of its growth. I believe we have some of the most forward-thinking people in the industry here, and I’m excited to see what we will deliver for our clients in the present and future.”

Vicki Fraser, Juggle Jobs

The flexible working startup, Juggle Jobs, has appointed Vicki Fraser as chief product officer.

Founded in 2017, the flexible hiring marketplace supports companies in finding, onboarding, paying, and managing, experienced flexible professionals.

Romanie Thomas, founder and CEO of Juggle Jobs, said: “We’re in the midst of a working revolution, with access to flexibility high on the priority list for many experienced professionals. Juggle is poised to seize this opportunity, but any founder will tell you that you can only grow if you have the right team in place.

“I’m delighted to have Vicki on board. She’s an experienced product leader with a proven track record of scaling successful companies. I have no doubt that her addition to the team will just accelerate things, ultimately helping more professionals to work flexibly and on their terms.”

Vicki said: “Having worked flexibly for the best part of a decade, I’ve experienced some of the challenges people can face when trying to balance work and life commitments while forging a successful career.

“It shouldn’t be hard; being able to offer flexible working benefits both individuals and businesses, exactly what Juggle Jobs aims to support.

“I am looking forward to helping Romanie develop the product, help the company grow and ultimately make it easier for our customers, whether candidates or clients, to find the right match for their needs.”

Dr Pedro Balage and Dr Luis Daniel Lopez-Sanchez, aisle 3

London-based consumer tech marketplace, aisle 3, has made two senior hires as it embarks on its seed funding round.

Dr. Pedro Balage has been named director of machine learning and Dr. Luis Daniel López-Sánchez adds 10 years of practical knowledge to the Machine Learning team.

Pedro has a PhD in artificial intelligence and comes from a data science background having held a senior position at FarFetch.

Luis is a machine learning engineer with a PhD in Mathematics from Madrid University.

Founded in 2020 by Amazon and Lastminute alumni, aisle 3 is a eCommerce marketplace that aims to fix the “fragmented shopping experience” by creating a “universal view of online shopping”.

Thomas Vosper,CEO and co-founder of aisle 3, said: “I am delighted we have made these senior hires who will help our mission to disrupt the current fragmented shopping experience and put power back in the hands of Shoppers.

“Pedro and Luis are some of the brightest minds in data science and, most importantly, are good people who are passionate about company mission, values and culture.

“We are now embarking on our seed funding round, as we look to further scale the operation and have already secured the backing of some high profile industry leaders in ecommerce.”

Anthony Newman and Adam Breakspear, Allica Bank

London-based SME lender Allica Bank has hired two healthcare lending specialists, Anthony Newman and Adam Breakspear to help the bank focus on the care home market.

Anthony and Adam aim to provide expertise to brokers and their clients on issues unique to the sector, such as ethics and regulatory compliance, staffing challenges and occupancy levels.

Anthony, said: “The elderly care sector is dominated by a number of big operators, often meaning smaller operators struggle to get a foot in the door when looking for access to funding.

“We will be focused specifically on those operators that have been providing fantastic care to their local communities, and new entrants to the market who have the skills and passion to provide care to the elderly.”

Nick Baker, managing director intermediaries, commented on the new hires: “The elderly care sector has had a difficult two years. However, the SME care market was underserved long before COVID-19, with many lenders having pulled out of the space in recent years.

“There is a real opportunity for Allica to support these underserved businesses by offering the level of tailoring and understanding needed to properly support their growth ambitions in what is an increasingly in-demand market.”