Clockwise from top left: Kait D’Agostini, Sarah Krafman, Jeff Pontes and Warren Paisley.

Salt XC has brought on four new senior hires as the commerce agency builds its leadership in some key areas of its service offering.

“As we continue to mature as an agency, it’s crucial for us to have key players to help expand and build out our core pillars of service,” said Jeff Rogers, president at Salt XC. Founded in 2019 after Rogers left Mosaic, the agency specializes in what he calls “experiential commerce,” which aims to move consumers through the shopping journey by better integrating online and offline worlds. Its clients have included the likes of Kraft Heinz, Coca Cola, Microsoft, Labatt and RBC.

Among the new hires is Sarah Krafman, who will lead influencer strategies for clients as managing director, influencer. Krafman joins from the client side, having spent four years at Endy, most recently as its senior director of brand strategy and communication, where she helped build the DTC mattress brand’s influencer capabilities. She also has experience on the internal PR team at Indigo.

Jeff Pontes has been hired is VP of digital strategy and data analytics. Pontes was most recently practice lead for Accenture’s performance marketing and campaign services offering in Canada, but also brings senior experience from the digital teams at American Express, Sobeys and Fuse.

Warren Paisley, a former long-time partner at Hunter Straker, has also been hired as managing director of Salt XC’s shopper and packaging practice. Paisley was previously head of packaging and experiential at 6Degrees, and also brings leadership experience from Acosta and Mosaic.

Rounding out the new additions is Kait D’Agostini as senior director of client services. D’Agostini is returning to the agency world, having spent the last two years at cannabis beverage company Fluent. Prior to that, she spent more than eight years at Mosaic, where she led the agency’s flagship Labatt account.

Earlier this year, Salt XC bought fellow commerce-focused agency Brika.