About Fonix
Founded in 2006, Fonix provides mobile payments and messaging services for clients across media, telecoms, entertainment, enterprise and commerce.
Based in London, Fonix is growing rapidly with revenues rising from £4.8m in 2013 to £55m in 2018 and is driven by blue chip clients such as Channel 5, Powwownow, Bauer Media, Daily Mail Group, AIMIA, Three and Jersey Telecom.
Partnering with Fonix means benefitting from direct connections into all the UK carriers and a solid infrastructure, all underpinned by a highly skilled team of industry specialists across commercial, product and technology.
Awards and accreditations
Meet the team
Amy Hart
PR & Content Marketing Executive
Amy has a background in writing, having completed her English degree in 2016 whilst writing opinion pieces in her spare time.
As Fonix’s PR & Content Marketing Executive, Amy writes copy for the website (in particular the blog), writes press releases and social media posts and more.
In her spare time, she enjoys visiting cultural landmarks with friends, reading about current affairs and sampling the best burgers that London has to offer.
Anthony Baladi
Commercial Director
Anthony has been in the mobile payments industry for nearly a decade. As Commercial Director he is responsible for new business partnerships and driving mobile carrier payments into the mainstream. He also works very closely with our clients, providing experienced and consultative account management to ensure they’re getting the best out of mobile carrier payments.
He's a family man but also a self-confessed petrolhead that spends as much time as possible hitting the gym, attempting to relive his glory days of when he represented GB for American Football.
Ben Murphy
Software Architect
Ben has been with Fonix since the beginning! He’s bit of an whizz when it comes to SMS and mobile payments technology. His role involves writing loads of quality code to create the best possible solutions for our clients.
When he’s not playing with technology, talking about technology or watching technology, he can be found outdoors on a 10k run.
Clare Charles
Account Director
Clare has been in the mobile aggregation space for 9 years. She has extensive experience surrounding messaging and payments within technology, media, charity and telecoms markets.
At Fonix, she builds and maintains key strategic client relationships with industry leading media and broadcast clients, including Comic Relief, Channel 5, DMG Media and Children in Need.
Clare enjoys playing a spot of golf when she’s away from the office. She’s also pretty hardcore, having participated in Tough Mudder in 2016!
David Pereira
Senior Software Engineer
David has 6 years of experience in website development in the travel industry, alongside dabbling in bot trading indicator development for forex markets. As a Senior Software Engineer at Fonix, driving technological change and advancement is David’s top priority.
Outside of work, David is a food enthusiast, fashion addict and a keen reader - he’s currently making his way through War and Peace!
Francesca Gangemi
Senior Software Developer
Francesca has a master’s in Computer Engineering and has acquired substantial experience of modelling and developing large fault-tolerant and high-performance distributed systems. She has worked both in Europe and the US, helping large companies and start-ups to design, build and maintain their core distributed systems.
Francesca has been a Principal Software Engineer at Fonix since its conception. She works predominantly upon the design and implementation of the backend platforms, as well as the admin and client web interfaces.
It’s not all about tech for Francesca, as when she’s not at work she enjoys reading, gardening and all sorts of creative activities.
Hannah Giles
Head of Marketing
Hannah has spent 8 years working in the mobile technology sector. Joining Fonix in 2015, she is responsible for the overall marketing strategy. Our marketing strategies benefit from her expertise in social media, email and content to SEO, PPC and events.
When she’s not marketing mobile tech, Hannah loves crossing everywhere off her travel bucket list. She also enjoys playing ultimate frisbee, following house music DJs around the country and making furniture, in no particular order.
Ben Pothecary
Commercial Manager
Ben graduated from the University of Brighton in 2015, with a degree in Sports & Exercise Science. Since then, he’s gained invaluable experience in account management and business development.
Now Fonix’s Commercial Partnerships Manager, Ben has got stuck in managing relationships and developing exciting new business opportunities and partnerships.
Outside of the office, he can be found playing football or throwing punches in the boxing ring.
Liz Ayto
Head of Finance
Liz has 7 years of experience in finance, as well as a physics degree. Every company needs a great number cruncher! Liz runs the day-to-day running of company finances, working closely with a number of departments across the team as well as the growing financial team.
Liz loves her hobbies: taking part in quizzes, crafting (such as knitting, crocheting and scrapbooking), watching the Leicester Tigers and playing board games with her friends (but only if she wins).
Louisa Harris
Client Services Director
Louisa has over 16 years of operational, compliance and commercial experience in the telecoms, media and technology markets. She has spearheaded and run initiatives with some of the largest enterprise clients in the aggregation industry including Channel 5, Children in Need, Match.com, National Rail, Epsilon and DMG.
At Fonix, Louisa heads up the Client Services team and manages all aspects of client integrations, compliance, and operational and technical support, working closely with the commercial and technical teams.
Away from work, Louisa is a dab hand with a hammer and paintbrush, having completely renovated her home.
Marco Borzi
Senior Software Developer
Marco has been working within the SMS and mobile payments industries since back in 2010. As one of Fonix’s Senior Software Developers, he works on developing Fonix’s direct billing and SMS APIs.
In his spare time Marco enjoys spending time with his wife and two children. He is also an avid reader, especially around technology and the economy.
Marcus Kern
CTO
Marcus has worked with SMS platforms for almost two decades. Before working at Fonix, he founded voice ITC communications in 1998 and Mobile Interactive Group in 2005.
He then went on to be a CTO of Fonix, where his technology expertise has been critical to the success of the technology department and the company’s services as a whole.
When he’s not surfing the internet reading up about technology, he’s either surfing on the coast in Cornwall, baking bread or doing some yoga.
Martha Kearns
Client Services Manager
Martha has over 5 years of mobile technology experience. As Client Services Manager, she manages the day-to-day communications with clients, sets up campaigns and sends marketing pushes - she’s quite simply a smooth operator.
In her spare time, she loves gaming and catching the latest movie at the cinema. She's also a culinary genius, often whipping up some amazing cakes for the office to share.
Nicola Fabbrini
Back End Developer
Nicola has a background in technology, having graduated in October 2016 with a degree in Computer Science and Engineering.
His role within the tech team is largely centred around adding great features to the Fonix platforms, making sure that it keeps getting better and better.
He is also a film and TV fanatic, enjoying a boxset binge in his free time!
Pilar Santamaria
Senior Software Engineer
Pilar has an extensive Computer Science background, having spent the past 8 years developing technology behind credit card and mobile payments.
At Fonix, she is largely responsible for designing and developing the payments platform and ensuring that it is always improving.
She also likes learning new coding languages, having recently mastered RubyOnRails. She also enjoys playing football, watching movies and spending time with her friends and family.
Rob Weisz
CEO
As a co-founder of Fonix, Rob has been our CEO since 2014 (and he came up with our name!). Rob is responsible for our overall business strategy and vision.
He has over 17 years’ experience in the mobile industry across a range of telecoms and mobile businesses such as iTouch PLC, Redstone, O2, Mobile Interactive Group and Velti. Rob is also Vice-Chairman of the Association of Interactive Media and Entertainment (AIME).
Outside of Fonix, he can be found either chasing his children around, following sport or getting the lycra on for one of his big cycles.
Stephen George
Business Development Director
Stephen has a broad depth of knowledge when it comes to technology, media and telecoms and has managed large accounts across multiple territories.
At Fonix, Stephen is responsible for our business development strategy. He brings an abundance of experience in initiating new revenue opportunities, building relationships with the UK mobile networks and shaping initiatives for leading brands.
Outside the office you’ll find Stephen running whilst simultaneously moaning about his dodgy knees. His dog is the only one who listens.
Will Neale
Co-founder
Will is one of our co-founders. He’s a serial tech entrepreneur and angel investor, with a proven track record of founding and leading tech companies to success.
As a co-founder, he knows everything there is to know about the company and the industry. At Fonix, Will is focused on our organisational strategy, finance, operations and corporate development.
It’s no surprise then that outside of Fonix Will’s passion is technology; he’s the co-founder of Grabyo and an investor in Property Partner, Entrepreneur First, Revolut, Thriva, Hello Car, Panaseer, Telleroo, TechnologyWillSaveUs... the list goes on.
Grace Carrick
Financial Analyst
Since graduating with a Maths degree from the University of East Anglia, Grace has gained admin experience within an engineering firm.
Now keen to get stuck into finance, she has joined Fonix's finance department, as our Finance Analyst. She can be found building reports and creating really nifty formulas to keep our company finances in order.
Away from the office, Grace is a self-confessed halloumi addict, constantly eating the stuff and trialling new recipes.
Dave James
Front End Developer
Dave is Fonix’s Frontend Developer. He is self-described as “the guy who makes all of Fonix’s products look pretty”, as he focuses on their appearance and consults on UI aspects of the products.
His journey to Fonix is as varied as they come: he has previously worked in creative agencies in a similar frontend role and prior to that, worked as a roofer for 5 years.
He is a serial photoshopper, and in his free time he loves editing his dog into as many historical photographs as possible. He also enjoys playing guitar (albeit badly, which winds up his girlfriend enormously).
Tanyia Langley
Client Services Executive
With a background in financial services, Operations Executive Tanyia focuses on building solid relationships with the mobile network providers and our clients, to ensure that we’re providing a compliant, top-notch service.
Outside of work you’ll find Tanyia snuggled up on the sofa watching a gripping crime drama, whilst also gripping onto a good bar of chocolate!
Manjusha Rokkam
Senior Software Developer
Manjusha has spent over 4 years getting stuck into the field of information technology.
As a Software Developer at Fonix, she works in our tech team, maintaining and developing scalable software and web apps.
It’s not all about tech for Manjusha, as she has a creative streak too: she loves cooking and reading books outside of work. She would also give all of us a run for our money on the chessboard.
Allie Kemp
Client Services Executive
Fresh out of the University of Exeter, Fonix’s Client Services Executive Allie works closely with our clients to ensure all campaigns and reporting run without any hiccups, as efficiently as possible.
Outside of work, you’ll find Allie either on a pair of skis or down at the theatre, where she loves watching musicals, plays and dance productions.
Deniss Bohanovs
Senior Software Developer
Deniss is a coding addict, with extensive experience using Ruby, JavaScript, Python and Elixir. He has also acquired a number of accreditations, including Comptia Security+ and PentesterLab certification.
Now working among the Fonix tech team as a Software Engineer, Deniss is responsible for back end development on Fonix products, developing code for the messaging side of the business.
Outside of work, Deniss loves learning about all things tech, in particular web security and participating in bug bounty programs. But it's not all about coding for him, as he also loves getting adventurous on his bike and climbing mountains, as well as spending time with his family.
Ollie Allum
Commercial Manager
Ollie has over 11 years of experience working in the mobile technology sector, specialising in interactive TV, mobile payments, voice and SMS.
Now a Commercial Manager working on Fonix’s mobile messaging platform, Zensend, he is fully responsible for heading up Zensend’s commercial strategy. His wealth of experience makes him a perfect fit for helping and educating businesses on how to make the most out of SMS - and why Zensend is so great!
Outside the office, Ollie can be found either booking his next festival or getting involved with anything to do with animals (we’ve heard he’s been alpaca trekking and we’re dying to see some photos).
Jess Kennedy
Assistant Finance Manager
With extensive experience in accountancy roles and an AAT accounting qualification, Jess is no stranger to audits, processing invoices, keeping on top of employee expenses and assisting senior accountants.
She has now joined our team as Assistant Finance Manager, with her primary role being to support the finance function of the business alongside the rest of the finance team. This includes accruals, prepayments, fixed asset maintenance, audit preparation and cash flow maintenance.
When she’s not helping us turn over a profit she’s turning and twirling in a ballet class, or even on ice, as she has recently taken up ice skating lessons.