Mindshare global CFO joins You & Mr Jones Media

Mindshare’s long-serving chief financial officer Dawn Dickie has left the GroupM business to join You & Mr Jones Media as a partner.

Dickie was one of the first employees at Mindshare, which was formed in 1997 when the media arms of J Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather were spun off and merged to set up the agency.

At You & Mr Jones Media, Dickie will be based in London and lead the agency’s global financial and commercial operation.

She joins Nick Emery, who was dismissed from his global CEO role at Mindshare in October 2020 after complaints about an "inappropriate prank” by him on a video call.

Emery, who joined You & Mr Jones in April 2021 to establish its media operation with a $300 million (£216 million) war chest, said that Dickie’s appointment reflects “the rapid growth the global brandtech group’s media operation has experienced in its first nine months and the continuing disruption of the legacy marketing sector”.

Emery, founding partner of You & Mr Jones Media, added: “Dawn is the most brilliant CFO and commercial brain. We’re building something special with special people and Dawn is certainly that."

Dickie is one of four recent senior appointments by You & Mr Jones Media. Last year, Michaela Keough (formerly of MediaCom) joined as director of performance and programmatic media, Patrick Rubenstein (formerly at Group M’s IBM unit EightBar) joined as director of media services, and Ryan Potts (formerly of Focus On Media) joined as head of paid search.

Since its launch, You & Mr Jones Media has hired former global president of EightBar Jeff Matisoff (partner), former Media by Mother chief operating officer Will Heins (partner) and Hearts & Science’s Jess Nachtigall (associate partner). 

You & Mr Jones, a technology-focused group of marketing agencies that includes Oliver, Gravity Road, 55, Mobkoi, Mofilm, Blood, and Collectively, was founded by former Havas Global CEO and Facebook Client Council founding member, David Jones, in 2015. 

In the first three quarters of 2021, the group managed year-on-year organic revenue growth of 50%. It operates in 40 countries, with clients including Adidas, Banco Itaú, Danone, Facebook, Intuit, LVMH, Microsoft, Renault-Nissan, PayPal and Unilever.

Jones said its media division had “exceeded our ambitious plans”. He added: “Their growth has been such that it's now time to bring in an extremely senior CFO. At You & Mr Jones we're thrilled to have a disproportionately fair share of brilliant senior female leaders and Dawn is the latest addition.”