Formerly client partner at Merkle, O’Brien has held client service director roles at agencies including Beta, DDB and Rapp.

Skinner, who has led data science at Merkle for the past four years, will be responsible for developing Stack’s capabilities in the space, working with agency leads and clients. Prior to Merkle, Skinner was head of business intelligence at MRM Worldwide.

Both new hires will report to Stack’s chief data officer Mark King, who joined the company in March.

King said: “We are reinforcing our analytical capabilities for today’s omnichannel, customer-centric world. Andy and Ian have worked with the most desirable customer experience brands around, and bring with them world-class expertise in customer-driven strategies and connected journeys. They’ve developed customer data platforms from scratch and advised media agencies on how to sharpen the prospecting powers of the DMP.”

Pictured (left to right): Ian Skinner, head of data science; Mark King, chief data officer; Andy O’Brien, head of data planning