Four members involved in shake up of the distributor’s sales department Distributor hires head of grocery sales Hayes joins Serious Games Focus appoints brand manager
GEM l The distributor and retail services provider has restructured its sales department in a bid to keep up the pace with consumer demand. NEIL WILLERTON (far left)has become head of grocery sales and will work on the Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda accounts and more. Ten-year Gem veteran COLIN PELLEY (top row right)has been appointed as head of etail sales with account responsibility for Amazon and overseeing accounts at ShopDirect, Ebuyer, Dabs and Spicers. JOANNE GILLMAN (far left)starts her new
role as head of Gem design and sourcing. Gillman will create the GDS division within Gem and harness the company’s Far East product sourcing and manufacturing expertise. Finally, PAUL LANGLEY (above right) will continue serving as divisional manager for Gem’s dedicated Xbox, leisure and business teams.
FOCUS l The UK publisher has appointed JULIE COOPER as its new brand manager for the company’s accessories range. Cooper previously worked for CiTV and at HomeServe as a brand manager.
“I’m very much looking forward to developing and driving the brand, product and marketing strategy forward for the new accessories range from Focus Multimedia,” said Cooper.
Focus managing director Craig Johnson added: “I’m pleased to welcome Julie to our team at this exciting time as we significantly diversify our product offering. “Julie’s wealth of experience in brand and product management will contribute substantially to our on-going success.”
SERIOUS GAMES l The educational development studio has hired MIKE HAYES (far left) as executive chairman.
Hayes was formerly CEO of Sega and has held a number of senior positions at Codemasters and Nintendo.
Hayes will work alongside Serious Games’ studio architect and managing director TIM LUFT (above right). Luft was formerly a director at Serious Games’ institute at Coventry University, and director of the Centre of Urban intelligence.
“The games industry is skilled in capturing the retaining the player’s attention, and encouraging them to explore, learn and develop within a game environment,” said Hayes. “Bringing this experience to immersive environments and corporate programmes will give Serious Games International a significant competitive edge in the educational game market.”