Zefr, the leading independent contextual data platform for brand suitability across YouTube and Facebook, has named Ross Nicol VP of EMEA, Ultano Kindelan Williams as Commercial Director, Southern Europe, and Kenny Spangberg as Commercial Director, Nordics. Together, they’ll be responsible for driving growth and awareness of Zefr’s growing contextual data business in the EMEA region. Nicol is based out of London, while Spangberg is based out of Sweden, and Kindelan leads Southern Europe from Madrid.

“As global demand for Zefr’s contextual data continues to grow as a result of the need for standardized brand suitability, as well as larger privacy concerns, we needed to support that demand with local leadership,” said Rich Raddon, co-Founder and co-CEO. “We’re thrilled to have strong executives in Ross Nicol, Ultano Kindelan Williams, and Kenny Spangberg to accelerate our growth in the EMEA region.”

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Globally, Zefr’s contextual data platform is leveraged by brands and advertisers to standardize their brand suitability across both YouTube and Facebook. Rather than relying on legacy tools like keywords and semantics, the company has built a patented Human-in-the-Loop approach to brand suitability that combines human cognition with machine learning. Their contextual data can be activated in 46+ languages, critical for global brands. With this expansion, they will have market leaders and customer success infrastructure in place to service the EMEA region.

“I’m thrilled to bring Zefr’s contextual data platform to EMEA at such a critical point in the industry,” said Nicol. “With growing concerns of brand suitability across both YouTube and Facebook, as well as heightened privacy concerns with GDPR, Zefr’s contextual data is an ideal fit for marketers in EMEA.”

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Ross Nicol has spent the last several years leading EMEA sales efforts for global advertising technology firms, most recently Sharethrough and previously Telaria. Based in London, Nicol will be leading the growth strategy for Zefr across the EMEA region.

Ultano Kindelan Williams joins Zefr from Fyber, where he was the VP of Sales EMEA, APAC, and LATAM. With his global sales leadership background, he will be focused on accelerating Zefr’s contextual data platform growth in key southern EMEA countries including Spain and Italy. Kindelan Williams has over a decade of experience in ad tech sales leadership roles, including DoubleClick, EyeWonder and Falk Realtime.

Kenny Spangberg comes to Zefr from GroupM, one of the world’s leading media networks, where he served as Chief Digital and Product Officer in Sweden. Prior to GroupM, Kenny built a long international career with leading roles in the advertising industry, such as Nordic Director at DoubleClick, co-founder of Smartclip Nordics, European Director at Spongecell and heading up programmatic international for Widespace. Based in Stockholm, Spangberg will be leading Nordic sales and strategy efforts for Zefr and supporting larger EMEA efforts.