Oscar Welcomes Ivan Wicksteed as Chief Marketing Officer and Gerard Ohen as VP of Talent Acquisition
New York, NY - April 8, 2019 - Oscar, a technology-driven, consumer-focused health care company, today announced the addition of Ivan Wicksteed as its new Chief Marketing Officer and Gerard Ohen as Vice President of Talent Acquisition. Ivan will oversee growth marketing, product marketing, and brand strategy at Oscar, and Gerard will oversee Oscar’s recruiting team, including business, technology, clinical, talent brand, and university recruiting.
Ivan brings a range of marketing experience to Oscar, including scaling iconic consumer brands and supporting growth at young companies. In the last 15 years, Ivan has led marketing teams as Chief Marketing Officer of Old Navy, Chief Marketing Officer of Cole Haan, VP of International Marketing at Converse, and Global Creative Director of Coca Cola. Having proven his ability to scale the marketing efforts of these more established brands, in 2017 Ivan founded his own strategic consultancy, FNDR, to help young companies and growth-stage startups sharpen their marketing capabilities. In this role, his clients have included Snapchat, Glossier, NeueHouse, Dreamscape, and Proven Skincare, among others.
“We are thrilled to welcome Ivan to Oscar. Ivan’s ability to leverage two key components of successful marketing -- creative and analytics -- will make him an important contributor to Oscar’s growth. Ivan will be a critical leader at Oscar as we work to build a brand that our consumers can trust as their health care partner,” said Mario Schlosser, CEO and co-founder at Oscar.
Gerard joins Oscar following twelve years at Verizon, where he most recently served as Director of Global Talent Acquisition. His domestic and international recruiting experience spans technology, university, talent attraction, and diversity & inclusion, among other target recruiting groups across consumer and enterprise. At Verizon, Gerard designed and implemented an agile, scalable recruiting model that was able to support the company’s technology growth strategy and meet the demands of an evolving talent marketplace. He led the staffing strategy for several divestitures, acquisitions, and new business ventures and developed recruiting practices that supported global functions, including product management and development, sales, cyber security, marketing, and analytics.
“Oscar is powered by our people, and we are confident that under Gerard’s leadership Oscar will continue to attract the best-in-class talent necessary to support the company’s future,” said Kerry Van Voris, Chief People Officer at Oscar.
Ivan’s official start date is Monday, April 8th, and Gerard’s was Monday, March 25th. Both will be based in the company’s New York headquarters.