Former NBA Chief Marketing Officer Kate Jhaveri has been named Global Head of Marketing at TikTok.
Jhaveri will work closely with Sofia Hernandez, TikTok’s Head of Global Business Marketing, who focuses primarily on business and advertising solutions, according to a company spokesperson.
The chief marketing position at TikTok has been vacant since the departure of Nick Tran in January 2022. According to the New York Post, Tran was ousted after “blindsiding top management with a series of increasingly bizarre campaigns,” including a plan to open ghost kitchens that would deliver dishes that had gone viral on the platform.
While she most recently comes from the sports world, Jhaveri is no stranger to the social media and tech sectors. Prior to her time at the NBA, she was CMO and SVP of Customer Experience and Analytics at gaming livestreaming platform Twitch, and earlier in her career she held senior-level marketing positions at Twitter, Facebook and Microsoft.
“Throughout my career, I have been fascinated by communities — what brings people together; how communities evolve and grow; and all the stories and amazing people within a community,” said Jhaveri in a LinkedIn post (accompanied by a charming TikTok video of a very excited dog). “There is no more creative, educational, engaging and culture-defining community than TikTok and I’m thrilled I have the opportunity to help shape this brand and tell this community’s amazing stories!”
TikTok is increasingly leaning into community engagement and commerce as it continues to gain favor among consumers and brands alike in the U.S. — momentum that will likely only be intensified by the current meltdown at Twitter since new owner Elon Musk took the reins a few weeks ago.
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