Facebook has hired former MEC boss Steve Hatch as its first regional director for the social network in the UK and Ireland.
The UK represents Facebook’s largest commercial operation in Europe and the new appionment signals the social network’s increased investment in the market, where more than 55% of the population are estimated as active users.
Facebook UK revenues are expected to be in the region of £300 million this year.
In his new role as MD, Hatch will be responsible for more than 150 staff and will report to Nicola Mendelsohn, who became Facebook’s vice president of EMEA in May.
Hatch will report to Nicola Mendelsohn, vice president for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and he will lead a staff of more than 100.
Prior to the appointment, Stephen Haines was leading UK operations for Facebook, Haines was , relocated to New York in June to assume the role of global lead for the social network’s relationship with Omnicom.
EMEA Regional Director James Quarles had been leading client and agency relationships in the U.K. in the interim.
Hatch became CEO of MEC in February 2011, and he had been with the company since it was formed as Mediaedge:cia following the merger of The Media Edge and CIA in 1998, according toMarketingWeek. Prior to MEC, he also worked with Young & Rubicam, PHD, and DDB. He began his career working for Unilever at Initiative Media before moving to BMP DDB.