Project Rubicon Picks Ad Staff From FIM

The Rubicon Project, the LA-based company aiming to optimise publishers’ unused online ad inventory, is raiding yet another rival as it continues to staff up in London.

Leon Siotis and Jana Jakovljevic join from Fox Interactive Media’s network performance team. They will manage relationships with UK ad networks and EMEA respectively.

The firm already hired former MySpace Europe VP Jay Stevens to lead the roll-out as international VP. He tapped Platform-A’s Oli Whitten to lead its European ad networks relationships, former MySpacers Nikki May and Luke Fenney plus others.

The Rubicon team considers that many practices in UK online ad sales are loose. They reckon they can tighten things up. They have raised $42 million since starting two years ago; the latest, a $9 million round led by NBCU.

Siotis and Jakovljevic will report to Whitten.