LiveArea expands executive leadership team in Europe; two key roles added

This article was published prior to LiveArea's acquisition by and integration into global agency Merkle

Global customer experience and commerce agency LiveArea, a business unit of PFSweb, Inc. (NASDAQ: PFSW), has added two commerce industry veterans to its European executive team based in London.

Samantha Mansfield has joined LiveArea as senior strategy director in EMEA, while Ben Rainbow has taken on the new role of alliances director for EMEA. Both executives will focus on clients and partners, respectively, in Europe, including Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg) and DACH (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland). The company recently announced its expansion into these regions.

Previously experience design practice lead for MRM-MCCANN in London, Mansfield brings to LiveArea more than 20 years of expertise in planning, designing, and managing digital products and services. She has led digital experience teams for agencies, including Isobar where she served as user experience director, and for brands, including Adidas where she was strategic design director. Other leading brands she has worked with include L’Oreal, also a client of LiveArea; Saudi Aramco; PerkinElmer; Fidelity Investments; Vauxhall; and more.

Joining LiveArea from Astound Commerce, Ben Rainbow has more than 11 years of commerce, technology, and alliances experience. Previously he served as Astound’s head of client services in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In this role, Ben initially led the formation of foundational technology partnerships for the firm, including Adobe, Adyen, Avalara, Amplience, InRiver, Klarna, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Yotpo, and Zmags. He has worked with a variety of client brands, too, including Signet Jewelers, Pepe Jeans Group, The Card Factory, gettingpersonal.co.uk, Brown Thomas, Theo Paphitis Retail Group, AER Rianta International, and many more.

“The addition of Samantha and Ben to the LiveArea Europe team illustrates our commitment to growth in the region and to providing clients with innovative strategies and the support of industry-leading partners to help translate that strategy into results,” said Paul Lynch, area vice president, and managing director, LiveArea EMEA.