• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, January 9, 2014

The Media Kitchen has a new top digital chef. Joshua Engroff, a digital ad native with experience in agency, publishing, mobile and programmatic organizations, has joined the MDC Partners media shop as Chief Digital Media Officer, as well as managing director of KBS+ Ventures, succeeding Darren Herman, who left recently to take a senior position at Firefox browser developer Mozilla.

Engroff, who joins TMK from Dstillery (formerly Media6Degrees), where he was general manager of its mobile operations, began his digital marketing career as a founder of early Internet marketing start-up Dash.com (acquired by Omnicom), has held senior positions in digital agencies (Agency.com), publishing (Billboard/Nielsen/Prometheus), programmatic and mobile, was recruited because of his diverse background, according to TMK President Barry Lowenthal.

"Josh was chosen for this role due to his unique mix of agency experience (Agency.com), entrepreneurialism (he's started two companies and invested in others) and his deep knowledge of data science, technology and programmatic buying (from his experience as GM of Distillery and COO of EveryScreen Media),” Lowenthal explained, adding: “Josh can talk about what a technology stack should include as well as how to evaluate a publisher’s audience, which is not an easy combination to find.”