Left Field Labs Announces Senior Appointments
Digital agency Left Field Labs (LFL) has added Yann Caloghiris as executive creative director and Ken Rivera as EVP of business development. In their new roles, Caloghiris will lead the design department to drive creative vision across teams at LFL, and Rivera will oversee strategic partnerships and business development initiatives.
“Yann and Ken both align with Left Field Labs’ approach in applying uncommon creativity to solve our common challenges, which is at the heart of everything we do,” says Sarah Mehler, Left Field Labs Founder and CEO. ”Yann’s experience in emerging technologies, such as machine learning, has helped some of the most traditional brands embrace innovation in the digital space; and Ken has an impressive track record of his own, strategically growing startups and emerging media companies.”
Caloghiris arrives at LFL following five years as digital creative director at global experiential agency Imagination, where he created digital content and experiences for Ford Motor Company at the Detroit, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Toronto International Auto Shows. In addition, he led research in customer emotional recognition, used for automotive product development and behavioural tracking in the context of large events.
Before joining Imagination, Caloghiris launched Motion Collective in response to an increasing demand from clients and agencies for specialized experiential creative work. Over the course of his career, he has worked on integrated advertising, live marketing, broadcast, and print campaigns for such clients as Nokia, Sony Pictures, PepsiCo, Gillette, Rolls-Royce, New Balance, Polaroid, and Gordon Ramsay, among others.
“Left Field Labs has an incredible group of people who positively reinforce one another,” says Caloghiris. “As cross-media experiences continue to play a larger role in how brands communicate, Left Field Labs has become a leader in the space with genuine technological innovation at its core, while keeping a human-centred approach to consumer engagement.”
Rivera brings extensive experience in building strategic partnerships and client solutions within entertainment, media, and digital. Most recently, he was EVP of media and client partnerships at HYFN, where he was instrumental in its evolution from a development shop into a full-service digital agency and multi-platform ad-tech company. Prior to joining HYFN in 2013, he was VP of partnerships and digital media at Machinima, one of the early digital media pioneers to build an advertising network around the growing community of YouTube creators, following four years as VP of global sales and partnership marketing at Major League Gaming, a leading eSports provider, which was acquired by Activision.
“Left Field Labs takes a thoughtful, differentiated approach to every project, born out of a true passion to harness emerging technology for our partners,” concludes Rivera. “What’s most exciting for me is the chance to lead executive teams through our immersive process for developing and bringing innovative strategies and products to market quickly.”
