UK telco consortium Weve has appointed David Sear, formerly of Travelex and VocaLink, as chief executive officer.
Originally pitched as a SIM-based platform for mobile payments, the operators behind Weve - Everything Everywhere, O2 and Vodafone - have recalibrated their offering to initially focus on building a clearing house for business-to-consumer mobile marketing.
Sear replaces Nancy Cruickshank, who led the venture, formerly known as Project Oscar, through its successful clearance by the EC. She will remain onboard part-time until the end of March 2013 to ensure a smooth transition.
Sear has extensive experience in the payments industry. Previously, he spent six years at Travelex, as divisional managing director, global business payments. Before joining Travelex, Sear spent three years as commercial and scheme managing director at UK ACH VocaLink.
Claiming to represent 80% of UK mobile customers, the joint venture is pitching itself as a focal point for a whole new set of experiences and ideas in mobile marketing and advertising, payments and transactions, loyalty and coupons.
With the integration of Vodafone's customer base into the service earlier this week, Weve is now offering a core set of products and services to its customers, including location based messaging, app discovery messaging, targeted push sms and video messaging.
Chairman of Weve, Gerry McQuade says: "I am delighted that David is joining at such an exciting time. With an opted-in 15 million customer base, the company is at a great starting point to bring to life the full potential of mobile commerce in the UK."