Australia-based publishing monetization company Publift has kicked off the financial year by hiring a new chief technology officer (CTO) and a head of operations.
Tristan Blakers takes on the CTO role, having previously worked at the NASDAQ stock exchange and RoZetta Technology, among other data, consulting, research and finance businesses.
Blakers is an experienced technology executive with more than 20 years of knowledge in the software development industry.
David Bickell joins the business as head of operations. Most recently he worked within the SaaS and programmatic advertising category in operations and technical solutions at data giant LiveRamp. He also has programmatic specialist experience at REA Group, where he drove growth in revenue across both buy and sell side solutions.
CEO of Publift, Colm Dolan, said Tristan raises the bar of the entire organisation given his ability to turn ideas into revenue generating products and Dave’s previous experience on multiple agency holding groups – in particular with data – gives Publift an opportunity to unlock new revenue streams which will prove advantageous for our publishers.
“Publift business has never been stronger and these new hires and recent client wins are testament to that,” Dolan said.
“Our transition from a humble consulting company to a product-led business means the time was right to get an experienced and proven CTO.
“Publift plans on doubling the business over the next year so our ability to land top talent like this is crucial to our continued success. There are at least 10 new roles planned in Publift’s roadmap over the next year.”
On his appointment, Blakers said: “Publift is an Australian success story, competing at a global scale and having a real impact. I look forward to accelerating product development – boosting publisher revenue and helping to ensure an independent media landscape.”
Bickell said: “Since its inception I’ve known Publift to be highly regarded as technical leaders in the space, with world class service to boot. Its incredible growth highlights the need that many publishers have, and I’m excited to be joining the team to help our clients build sustainable businesses.”
