News Briefs

Commerce media company Criteo has promoted three key leaders to further drive growth and build momentum in retail media and performance media, effective immediately.

Brian Gleason, who joined Criteo in April 2022 as chief revenue officer, has assumed an expanded role: CRO and president of retail media. He will oversee the end-to-end execution of Criteo’s retail media plans, driving efficiency and agility, and advancing the company’s market presence and leadership in the digital advertising channel, according to a media release. Gleason will also continue to lead Criteo's global commercial organization and expand new client opportunities. Prior to joining Criteo, Gleason was global chief commercial officer of WPP’s GroupM. He also served as CEO of Xaxis, a global programmatic audience platform, and in senior roles at various advertising and technology companies.

Ryan Damon, formerly chief legal and corporate affairs officer, assumes the expanded role of chief legal and transformation officer. In addition to overseeing the company's legal, compliance and public affairs, his new responsibilities span transformation initiatives to further drive Criteo's commerce media platform execution roadmap, including its trading infrastructure and custom capabilities. Prior to joining Criteo in 2018, Damon served as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary at Riverbed Technology, where he led legal and corporate development. He has also held senior legal roles at Charles Schwab and was an attorney with the law firm of Gunderson Dettmer in California’s Silicon Valley, representing start-up technology companies and venture capital investors.

Connor McGogney, formerly executive vice president of corporate development, has been promoted to chief business development officer. Since joining Criteo in 2018, McGogney has played a key role in shaping the company's acquisition and business transformation strategy. As part of the senior leadership team, he will play a central role in driving the company's growth strategy, including mergers and acquisitions and strategic partnerships. Previously, McGogney was vice president, global M&A and corporate development at Nielsen. He also served as vice president, media and technology investment banking at Credit Suisse.

Gleason, Damon and McGogney will report directly to CEO Megan Clarken.

"These executive leadership changes will accelerate our success and enable further growth as we continue to transform our company into a commerce media powerhouse,” Clarken said in the release. “[Gleason, Damon and McGogney] are exceptional leaders who will help us continue to scale our business and drive shareholder value.”

Advertising agency Kargo unveiled an integration with TikTok to enable Kargo Commerce (formerly StitcherAds) clients to directly access offline sales insights in TikTok Ads Manager. 

The integration improves targeting and reporting for advertiser campaigns with omnichannel measurement and higher quality data, according to a media release. Advertisers will get real-time, granular insights that measure the full-funnel impact of their TikTok ads, including online and offline performance. 

The integration brings offline conversion insights that advertisers choose to share, such as in-store purchases and subscriptions, from Kargo’s campaign management tool (i.e., media technology platform) to TikTok’s offline events API. Kargo has similar integrations across a number of platforms for brands with business models that rely on offline conversions, per the release. 

The integration enables Kargo Commerce advertisers on TikTok to:

• Measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns from an offline setting.
• Track and analyze customer interactions across multiple touchpoints and channels.
• Gain a comprehensive picture of a company’s total sales and conversions.

“This partnership offers a comprehensive view of the customer journey, empowering brands to optimize their campaigns,” Lorry Destainville, head of product partnerships at TikTok, said in the release.

“TikTok represents a massive commerce opportunity for advertisers and we’re thrilled to deepen our partnership with this integration,” added Michael Shaughnessy, chief operating officer at Kargo. “Advertisers are looking for more transparency and control to improve quality and improve performance. Now they get what they need to optimize commerce experiences on the platform.”

Advertising technology company AdAdapted has made two key hires to its executive leadership team in a bid to enhance its innovative solutions for CPGs, agencies and retailers. Chris Roelle joins as managing director of agency partnerships, and Rob Streeter as senior vice president of product. 

Roelle will lead AdAdapted’s agency sales team, focusing on existing relationships and fostering new partnerships with agencies and digital media-supporting CPG brands, the company said in a statement. He has more than 25 years of experience, most recently with Stingray, IRIS.TV and Conde Nast, where he drove strategic partnerships and growth with agencies, brands and data partners, particularly in the retail media space. His expertise is in omnichannel digital advertising models, including programmatic, video, digital, commerce/retail and linear media.

Streeter’s experience includes building tech-enabled products within retail media, advertising and e-commerce. He’s worked at both large enterprises, such as Sears and Amazon, and startups, including Channel Intelligence (acquired by Google) and Hooklogic (acquired by Criteo), where he built the first retail media network that included Walmart, Target and Best Buy, per the statement. AdAdapted tapped Streeter for his expertise in product strategy to anticipate customer needs and capitalize on emerging technologies and trends to drive growth.

“[Roelle] and [Streeter] bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to AdAdapted, which will help drive innovation and product development and strengthen our customer partnerships,” said Molly McFarland, founder and chief revenue officer at AdAdapted. “[Roelle’s] background in digital media and agency relationships and [Streeter’s] accomplishments in product management will significantly contribute to our mission of providing industry leading conversion media adtech solutions to CPG brands and retail clients.”

Brian Messerschmitt announced in a July 22 LinkedIn post that he was promoted to chief marketing officer at Dollar Tree in June. In this role, he represents both Dollar Tree and Family Dollar brands. 

Messerschmitt previously served as the discount retailer’s vice president, customer experience marketing, from May 2023-June 2024. In that role, he led the strategic direction of the enterprise, customer experience across retail media (Chesapeake Media Group), loyalty and e-commerce. He also helped develop and implement integrated plans to enhance the customer experience, drive long-term customer loyalty and retention, and accelerate monetization and sales, according to his LinkedIn profile.

“I look forward to partnering with our merchandising leaders and business partners to improve the customer experience, and to grow the business and build the brands,” Messerschmitt said on LinkedIn about his new position. 

Prior to joining Dollar Tree, Messerschmitt spent nearly four years at Albertsons Cos., helping lead its retailer media network, Albertsons Media Collective, as VP, client sales, marketing and account management. Before that, he spent more than 21 years at Procter & Gamble in various roles. 

Arc Worldwide, a commerce engine and retail innovation agency within Publicis Groupe, has named Chris Cancilla as chief creative officer, North America. He will report to Soche Picard, CEO, North America.

Cancilla will drive transformation for clients using data- and insights-driven creativity to connect with shoppers, according to a statement shared with the Path to Purchase Institute. 

With more than 30 years of creative experience across disciplines — from identity and advertising to activation and commerce — Cancilla has worked on various brands, including Unilever, Molson Coors, Intel, Dunkin’, The American Red Cross and the Obama Foundation, where he served as creative director from 2021-2022.

Prior to that, Cancilla served as Arc’s CCO from 2016-2021, and before that as senior vice president, group creative director, from 2004-2008, according to his LinkedIn. After his first stint at Arc, he held similar roles at VML Commerce (then VMLY&R Commerce), Trisect Agency and VSA Partners. 

Beyond the agency, Cancilla also teaches original coursework for Northwestern University’s Medill Integrated Marketing Communications program and serves on the board of Impact for Equity, a social justice organization in Chicago. 

“There is no one else I would rather have at my side than Cancilla,” Picard said in the statement. “He is a master of merging the art and science of commerce to connect with people. I’m over the moon welcoming him back to Arc [to help] lead our agency and drive value for our client partners.”

“It is an honor to be rejoining Arc at such an exciting time in the commerce space,” Cancilla added. “In a world where we have endless data, countless channels and the ability to deploy messages in nanoseconds, Arc brings the critical power of human insights coupled with breakthrough creative ideas. With its talent, culture and commitment to winning together, there’s no agency I’d rather be at.”

Petco Health and Wellness Co.'s board of directors has appointed Five Below CEO and former Walmart executive Joel D. Anderson as CEO, effective July 29. He will also serve on the company's board.

"I am excited to join Petco at a pivotal time as we reposition the business for a stronger future," Anderson said in a statement. "Petco is the leader in pet health and wellness and I see many opportunities to improve performance."

Interim CEO R. Michael Mohan will transition from his current role on July 29 to chair a board committee focused on Petco's ongoing value creation initiatives, working with Anderson to ensure a smooth leadership transition.

"On behalf of the board of directors, I extend our deepest gratitude to [Mohan] for his dedication and leadership," said Glenn Murphy, executive chairman of the board. "He has made a meaningful impact as our interim CEO over the past few months, effectively stabilizing our operations and setting us on the path for continued improvements in performance."

Anderson’s Background

Anderson has been CEO of specialty discount chain Five Below, where he led the company's U.S. expansion from 366 stores to more than 1,500, helped launch an e-commerce site, optimized operations, expanded into new categories and saw revenue grow from $500 million to more than $3.5 billion.

Anderson also previously spent three years as president and CEO of Walmart.com, from 2011-2014, and for four years before that as divisional senior vice president of Walmart's Northern Plains division, overseeing 100,000 associates and more than $25 billion in annual sales. Prior to that, he held various executive positions at Toys R Us over a 14-year period.

Additionally, Anderson currently serves on Sprouts Farmers Market’s board as a director and is a member of the audit and compensation committees.