Sarah Kate Ellis Named SVP of Global Marketing, Joining Jason Shugars, PubMatic and Google Veteran, and Matthew Baggott as Data Scientist Alongside Two Software Engineers
SAN FRANCISCO, CA and NEW YORK, NY – Martini Media, the digital media and content platform for engaging the audience with the most money and influence online, today announced several key new hires to bolster their product and engineering teams including Sarah Kate Ellis as SVP of global marketing, previously a top executive with Time Inc. Lifestyle Group and Real Simple. Other key new hires include Jason Shugars, Google veteran, as vice president of products to lead Martini Media’s continued inventive product development, and Matthew Baggott, PhD, as principal data scientist. Two software engineers, Michael Dreibelbis and Harshvardhan Kelkar, have also been appointed to the Martini Media team.
Sarah Kate Ellis joins Martini Media bringing more than 17 years of knowledge to the position from her experiences with media giants Real Simple, Vogue and InStyle. As an expert in the planning and execution of product launches and expansions, Sarah Kate has successfully launched Real Simple and the Time Inc. Lifestyle Corporate Groupand re-launched Condé Nast House & Garden.
“I see global marketing as an important function to any business,” stated Ellis. “Global marketing does more than increase sales and achieve profitable market share – it increases the entire company’s overall growth and expansion. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to boost Martini Media’s global reach; collaborating with and expanding their global team.”
Jason Shugars joins Martini Media as vice president of products and brings 13 years of knowledge to the position from his experiences with PubMatic, Google, imeem and MP3.com. As the director of international demand for PubMatic, Shugars managed the growth and build out of all European, Asia Pacific and Latin American demand partner relationships, including programmatic buying platforms and self-serve ad networks. With Google, he helped launch multiple international billing entities enabling Google to contract and conduct business in emerging markets, as well as helping launch a complete SOX-compliant contract approvals system across the same markets.
“Helping companies take their business to the next logical level is a passion and I am thrilled with the opportunity to push Martini Media’s products to new stages of development, as well as launching new product initiatives for the industry,” said Shugars.
Matthew Baggott, PhD, whose expertise merges data science and neuroscience, also joins Martini Media’s product and engineering team as principal data scientist. Baggott has published over 25 papers and focuses on machine learning, automatic identification of topics in text and modeling of impulsive decision-making. He has received two Presidential Trainee awards from the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, a multi-year NIH National Research Service Award Fellowship and frequently lectures and conducts workshops at professional conferences. Baggott’s focus on neuroscience will help catapult Martini Media’s data-based understanding of the richest audience.
“Martini Media sees more data on the affluent consumer than any other company and I am delighted at the opportunity to dive into these data,” said Baggott. “Martini has a unique database of brand advertising and intent direct response data that the team and I will synthesize into a richer and deeper understanding of the affluent.”
Martini Media also added two new software engineers to team: Michael Dreibelbis and Harshvardhan Kelkar. Dreibelbis previously worked for SAP as an applications consultant, and spent most of his time there working with HANA database. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science from UC Berkeley. Kelkar previously worked at BMC on building the next Generation Remedy Platform. He also designed and implemented a lock module for Blackberry devices to disable the device upon receiving a text message. He holds an MS in Computer Science from the University of Cincinnati.
“Martini Media is increasing focus on our products and these new additions to our product and engineering team are a clear indication of how serious we are taking this effort,” said Martini Media CEO, Skip Brand.
About Martini Media
Martini Media is the digital media and content platform for engaging the audience with the most money and influence online. With more than 1,000 publishers organized across multiple lifestyle and business verticals, Martini Media has helped the world’s leading brands reach over 125 million consumers across the globe that invest in their passions at work and play. Martini Media’s full-service marketing capabilities encompass display, video, mobile, social, and audience targeting to effectively engage the most valuable audience online at scale. Since 2008, Martini Media has been the premier media destination where influence meets affluence. Headquartered in San Francisco, Martini Media has offices in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and London. Visit www.martinimediainc.com to learn more.
