Gillespie

The former head of radio at Omnicom's pooled buying unit OPera, Jonathan Gillespie has joined Google in a senior position, reports Brand Republic (U.K.). He was one of OPera's founding directors.

Gillespie will be one of up to three leaders who will oversee agency relationships for Google in the U.K. He has been a consultant since he left OPera in mid 2005 and has led the radio industry's week-long promotion of U.K. music for the Radio Advertising Bureau.

"We are actively looking to build our relationships with the agency community, something we have not had the opportunity to focus on recently, but is certainly one of our main priorities now," Mark Howe, managing director for sales at Google, is quoted as saying.

"Jonathan is one of a series of senior hirings we are due to make over the following few months," Howe said.

In August 2006, Google hired former Time president Eileen Naughton to head ad sales for Google's New York offices in an apparent bid to improve its sometimes strained relations with Madison Avenue.