SpotX names new management team for Europe
August 2, 2018
SpotX, the video advertising and monetisation platform, has announced a new management team to oversee all aspects of SpotX’s business in Europe, including its merger with smartclip. Combining decades of advertising industry experience from global companies including GroupM, IPONWEB, Brightroll, Rubicon Project, and Dentsu Aegis, the leaders have been identified from within smartclip, SpotX and RTL Group.
The new EU Management team will consist of Irina Petricek-Steiner, General Manager of Operations in Europe; Kay Schneider, General Manager of Demand in Europe; Léon Siotis becomes General Manager of Supply in Europe; and Thomas Servatius, Chief Technology Officer, European Broadcaster Solutions.
Mike Shehan, CEO of SpotX, commented: “Our new management team brings an excellent combination of leadership skills and industry experience gathered from roles on both the demand and supply sides of the ad tech and television industry, and across multiple countries. They will complement each other, combining technical skills and a deep understanding of our products with business acumen and a customer-first approach.”
Petricek-Steiner moves from a role as Vice President, Digital Advertising and Integration at RTL Group to become General Manager of Operations, Europe. She brings 16 years of agency experience at Dentsu Aegis, Mindshare and GroupM, where she worked most recently as Global Implementation Director. She will direct operations across EMEA, including Finance, HR and data. She will also oversee SpotX’s businesses in the DACH and Benelux regions.
Schneider is promoted from General Manager of smartclip’s programmatic business to General Manager of Demand, Europe, overseeing all buy-side activities for SpotX. The Managing Directors of SpotX and smartclip in the Nordics, Jonas Rundgren, and Italy, Luca di Cesare, will report directly to him. Schneider has more than fifteen years’ experience in digital advertising, including nine years in programmatic trading. Before joining smartclip in 2013, Schneider was co-founder and CEO of European SSP RevenueMax and also worked at DQ&A and Lycos.
Having spent three years as Managing Director UK & Southern Europe at SpotX, Siotis becomes General Manager of Supply, Europe, leading all supply in Europe, including SpotX’s modern ad server and programmatic infrastructure including header bidding technology, in addition to leading the teams in France and the UK. Siotis has worked for a plethora of advertising technology companies including AOL, Yahoo!, MySpace and Rubicon Project throughout his twelve-year career.
Servatius, a member of the original smartclip management board, retains his role as Chief Technology Officer, European Broadcaster Solutions, SpotX. He joins the new management team, and will leverage his experience gained in senior roles at IPONWEB, Falk Technologies, and Lycos.
The co-founders of smartclip and current General Managers of Europe, Jean-Pierre Fumagalli and Roland Schaber have decided to move on and pursue new opportunities. They are turning over their responsibilities to the new management team effective immediately. Both will remain on board as advisors and employees of the company until the end of 2018.
Shehan added: “We are grateful to Jean-Pierre Fumagalli and Roland Schaber for their invaluable contributions to the success and fantastic growth of smartclip, and we wish them the best for the future. Our new management team will build on their foundation, integrating our technologies and leading more than 220 staff in Europe working with thousands of advertisers to drive cross-screen video ad serving and monetisation for premium broadcasters and publishers.”