Ali Samir El-Aidy, son of late Samir El-Aidy, owner and operator of El-Aidy for Press, Publishing & Media Production has taken on the role of Chief Executive Officer. In his new role, he will oversee the operations of the Egypt-based publishing house as well as two titles under it, Souk Al Sarayat and Sport & Luxury Boats Magazine.
Dubai-based creative production company, Baroque Worldwide has appointed Filippo Spiezia to the role of Chief Operating Officer. With over 30 years of experience, Filippo previously worked with Publicis Modem in the UK as Art Director, Second Story Interactive Studios in the United States as Senior Interaction Designer and most recently with Digital Design Days in Italy where he worked as the Creative Director. In his new role, he will work closely with Baroque’s other partners and Co-Founders to oversee the company’s business operations and work towards increasing the company’s client base, as well as strengthen its core offerings.
“I strongly believe in elevating the art of storytelling through innovation and in the power of technology to enable us to communicate on a more human level,” says Filippo. “Technology has broadened the scope of personal interactions and I will be looking towards innovative interactive techniques to make human to human connections more engaging, enchanting and meaningful.”
BNC Publishing has appointed Paromita Dey to the role of Editor for its B2B publication, Logistics News ME. With over five years of experience in the region, Paromita was most recently a Reporter at Construction Week, part of ITP Media Group. In her new role, she will be responsible for the content creation and design of the entire magazine as well as it’s development as a brand.
“I am really excited to join Logistics News ME as its Editor,” says Paromita. “It’s a new challenge for me and I definitely look forward to it. These are exciting times for the logistics sector in the Middle East with so much activity happening. Which will surely give me an opportunity to tap into these areas and create something engaging out of it.”
Motivate Publishing has promoted Nyree McFarlane to the role of Head of Digital Content. Previously Online Editor for What’s On Dubai’s digital platform, Nyree will now be responsible for the development and growth of all digital platforms for the publishing house, including whatson.ae, emirateswoman.com and gulfbusiness.com.
“I’m really excited to be able to help drive Motivate’s already excellent digital brands into the future, building agile, innovative, audience-loyal products that put story telling first,” says Nyree. “We already speak to a unique audience of a million people a month and I look forward to seeing the reach continue to build.”
Dubai-based luxury PR agency, The Qode has announced three promotions within its communications team. Previously Senior Communications Executive, Gopika Madan will now take on the role of Associate Communications Manager. In her new role, Gopika will be responsible for the execution of strategic PR campaigns and maintaining relationships with existing clients as well as pursuing new business opportunities for the agency. Lyaila Mufti and Alessandra Battalia have been promoted from Communications Executives to the role of Senior Communications Executives. Lyaila and Alessandra will continue to contribute to the development of their existing accounts as well as contribute to research and proposals for new business opportunities.
TishTash Marketing and Public Relations welcomes Charlotte Heckford to the role of Director of Strategy & Planning. Having previously worked with brands such as Reckitt Benckiser, PZ Cussons and LF Beauty, Charlotte has over 15 years of marketing experience in FMCG, health and beauty sectors. In her new role she will be responsible for strategic planning for all of the agency’s clients as well as supporting with new business and the development of the team.
“Charlotte is well placed to support TishTash and our clients into our next stage of strategic growth, and her rock solid FMCG and beauty marketing background make her the perfect addition to the team,” says Natasha Hatherall-Shawe, Founder and Managing Director, TishTash Marketing and Public Relations. “I am excited to see what the coming months have in store with her on board as part of my senior management team.”
The Walt Disney Company has appointed Helen Pickerill to the role of Senior Communications Manager. With 10 years of experience in PR and communications, Helen was previously Account Director at Grayling Middle East. In her new role, she will oversee PR and communications activities for all of Disney’s lines of business in the MENA region, which includes studio, retail and channel activities.
“The Walt Disney Company is the world’s most powerful brand, yet uniquely remains one of the most beloved,” says Helen. “I’m proud to be joining the Disney team here in MENA in what’s set to be an exciting year for the company across the region.”
Dubai-based integrated marketing communications group, MullenLowe MENA has promoted Matthew Butterworth to the role of Managing Director. Having joined MullenLowe MENA in 2016 as Regional Director of Digital and Integration, Matthew has over 20 years of experience and previously worked in the UK with McCann EMEA as Director of Digital Strategy and Publicis as the Digital Strategy Director. In his new role, he will work on creating a stronger integration and consumer driven creativity through data-driven experiences across every touchpoint to produce results.
Dubai-based marketing and events company, Plan b has appointed Samer Alloush to the role of Business Development Manager – Events. With over 11 years of experience in the media industry, Samer previously worked at ITP Media Group as Senior Sales Manager across titles Refining & Petrochemicals ME, Oil & Gas ME, Utilities ME as well as Oil & Gas Al Arabiya before joining APP Publishing, to work on OK! Middle East. In his most recent position as Senior Sales Manager at The Week, part of Motivate Publishing, he focused on selling advertising space along with events sponsorship.
At Plan B, he will work closely with the event management team and clients to increase market share and revenue within government and corporate organisations, as well as develop proposals, quotations and negotiate terms to secure sales opportunities.
“All I can say is that I am very excited and pleased to join Plan b,” says Samer. “It was a huge challenge for me to get into the events industry, but joining Plan b has been an amazing educational experience with a lot of diversity that will definitely add great value to my career.”
Edelman UAE has appointed Robin Gordon-Farleigh to the role of Regional Director for Government Strategies for the Middle East. With over 23 years of experience, Robin previously worked with the UK Department of Health as the Head of Media Planning and Strategy and is currently with the Prime Ministers office as the Senior Communications Strategist. He will take on his new role in Dubai in March, where he will offer his advice on the Middle East operations in the private and public sectors as well as work across government clients and executing strategies to position Edelman internationally.
“I am really pleased to be joining the Edelman Middle East team at such an exciting time,” says Robin. “They are doing such amazing work there in the space of government communications and I look forward to helping them to build out the business. It has been a great six years at No10 which throughout I have felt truly honoured and humbled to work there at the top of Government and in some small way contributed to deliver its agenda.”