Flush with cash after securing US$25 million in funding from growth equity investor ABS Capital Partners last month, social media management firm Syncapse Corp. has hired former Rogers Media digital executive Claude Galipeau to the newly created position of chief service officer. His appointment is effective April 1.
Galipeau was formerly senior vice-president and general manager of digital media for Rogers Media, a position he held for just over two years. Prior to joining Rogers, he was VP of interactive media for Astral Media.
He has extensive experience in the digital space, and currently sits on the boards of both the Banff World Media Festival and the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada.
Galipeau described Syncapse as a “Canadian success story,” and said he was attracted to the Toronto-based company because it is operating in an “emerging hot sector” that is increasingly in demand among the chief marketing officers of large global brands.
Social media, he added, is slowly transitioning from an add-on to a core component of today’s marketing plans.
“It’s a hot space at the moment, particularly for companies that want to manage their conversations with customers,” said Galipeau. “We’ve seen a trend over the years of companies going directly to customers and engaging them with content and, increasingly, initiating conversations.”
Working from Toronto and New York, Galipeau will manage a team of about 40 people charged with helping clients develop a social media strategy, creating custom applications for social media channels, and the measurement of activity on those channels.
In other Syncapse news, company spokesperson Meg Sinclair confirmed that former Yahoo Canada managing director Kerry Munro, who joined Syncapse as chief operations officer in March 2010, left the company in January. No reason was given for his departure.
