Avid Collective Nabs Ezechiel Ritchie From Jellysmack

Avid Collective has announced the appointment of Ezechiel Ritchie (lead image), previously with Jellysmack, Taboola and Google, as its new Commercial Director, in a major win for Australia’s home of native content.

In the new role, Ritchie will be responsible for driving revenue and growth for the business across a broad remit, including sales and partnerships, solutions and strategy, and client success. He will report to Avid Collective managing director Luke Spano.

Ritchie comes to Avid Collective with more than 15 years of experience in digital, ad tech and fast-growing start-ups. He was appointed the APAC General Manager for creator video tech platform Jellysmack, launching the business in ANZ and Southeast Asia and managing all parts of the organisation, including partnerships, sales, marketing, and operations in APAC. His role included managing more than 25 staff across Australia, Singapore, Korea, India, Japan, and Taiwan.

Ritchie has also held senior roles at native ads platform, Taboola, launching the business in 2017 across Australia and New Zealand and he also worked at Google for six years in roles in Australia and Europe.

Spano said Ritchie’s appointment was a significant hire for the business. “Hiring Ezechiel is a massive step for the business. He brings a wealth of industry experience, particularly in growing and scaling businesses that are disrupting their category, and his expert leadership skills will be essential in managing and mentoring our commercial team to drive further growth,” he said.

“Ezechiel is well-known for his ability to bring out the best in his team and we’re confident he will be able to further enhance the client experience across each stage of the lifecycle, ultimately strengthening our advertiser partnerships, and adding further growth for our business”.

“I am thrilled to be joining the Avid Collective team and its leadership. The business has seen tremendous growth over the past couple of years and I am looking forward to assisting the business and its brand partners to unlock the true potential of native content. Avid has a very unique offering in delivering high-quality native content at scale for agencies and brands, by making it simple, strategic and scalable. We’re just scratching the surface and I’m very optimistic about the future growth of the company,” said Ritchie.

Avid Collective’s incumbent Commercial Director Tom Gunter remains with the business, shifting to Product Director, focused on developing the commercial offering and leading the enhancement of the capabilities of the Avid platform.

Ritchie’s appointment is effective immediately.

Avid Collective works with more than 100 brands across Australia in every category from QSR, Retail, Finance, B2B, FMCG and Automotive. Its publisher network now reaches most of the Australian population across publishers including: Time Out Australia, Junkee and Punkee, Mouths of Mums, Forbes Australia, frankie, and We Are Explorers.

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