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Acast appoints Georgina Holt as Managing Director for the Americas
Acast appoints Georgina Holt as Managing Director for the Americas
Holt, who has led record-breaking growth in the UK, now moves to the US
2021.12.16
Acast, the world’s leading independent podcast company, has announced the appointment of Georgina Holt as Managing Director for the Americas. In a move that underlines Acast’s ambition to significantly grow market share in the US and surrounding regions, Holt — who currently fulfils the same role for the UK and Ireland — will oversee both commercial sales and podcast acquisition and retention.
Since joining Acast in early 2020, Holt has spearheaded phenomenal growth for the business in the UK, as well as leading its UK-based team through the challenges of a global pandemic. Her relocation to the US, where she’ll be based in New York City, is a strategic move as Acast seeks to build on its growing success in the region — following net sales growth of 111% in Q3 of 2021, versus the same period in 2020.
Holt will also be responsible for the welfare of close to 100 Acast employees based in the US, Mexico, and Canada. Her move to the Americas role follows Veronika Taylor’s recent promotion to Senior Vice President of the Acast Creator Network.
In more than two decades in media and publishing, Holt has led and delivered successful strategic and commercial transformation for the likes of Stylist and Cosmopolitan, and was most recently Executive Director of Stylist Studios before making the move into podcasting.
Oskar Serrander, Chief Operating Officer at Acast, said: “Georgie embodies Acast’s leadership philosophy, and our desire to operate as a distributed, global business, without losing grip of our most powerful asset — our culture. And, in a relatively short space of time, she’s had a transformative impact on our UK and Ireland operations — no small task given she came aboard at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and couldn’t meet colleagues in person for months.
“Our mission to become the app-independent marketplace of choice for podcast creators is accelerating in 2022 and, while we will be expanding into many new markets, the US remains an important focus. I’m confident we have the leadership in place to take us to the next level.”
Holt added: “Moving to the US to lead Acast in the Americas is a dream-come-true opportunity, as the team continues its incredible growth journey in this region. Leaving the amazing UK and Ireland team, especially after its most successful year ever, feels like a fitting moment to pass the baton.”
Acast has also announced the promotion of Marianne Boström to Chief People Officer, and Jonas Björk to Chief Technology Officer. Both will become part of the company’s senior leadership team, effective from January 1, 2022.