Melissa Fein, who was previously Channel Ten's national head of client solutions division Generate, has been named as CEO of IPG's creative, sponsorship and activation business, Ensemble.
Current CEO Justin Ricketts and managing director Tim Hodgson are leaving "to pursue new opportunities".
The job shake-ups are the first under the ruling of IPG's new group CEO Danny Bass. AdNews reported in November that Bass was officially back in the game after six long months out following his exit from GroupM.
Both execs had been at Ensemble since it launched back in 2010, and were both promoted to the top one and two spots in 2013. [AdNews 2013 archive image below]
Justin Ricketts and managing director Tim Hodgson
Bass said the change in the leadership for Ensemble sets the stage for new growth opportunities and a renewed focus “for this very creative and partnerships-centric business”.
“We have an exceptional incoming CEO in Melissa Fein, who has a truly impressive business record in leading creative, media owner and brand partnerships to their full potential. I am simply delighted that Melissa has accepted the Ensemble CEO role,” Bass said.
Fein was national head of Generate at Ten, which is the network's client solutions division that specialises in strategic and creative content creation, digital and social integration.
She was in that job for about two years, before taking on a new specialised role last September following the Ten/Foxtel tie-up. This role saw her develop the strategy and implementation of the network/brand solutions for clients across the entire MCN portfolio including Ten and Foxtel.
In her time at Ten Generate she created globally recognised integrated partnerships, such as the content series for Toyota Kluger that featured Modern Family’s popular dad, Phil Dunphy. Other client partnerships were created for shows such as Masterchef Australia, Shark Tank, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.
Fein says: “There is no limit to the potential impact of brand and media-owner partnerships that strike a powerful connection for people on any device. Ensemble is already a highly visible player and I am looking forward to both leading the business and collaborating with the other businesses at Mediabrands.”
Before joining Generate Fein, who started her career at News Corp Australia, worked at Mindshare and before that, worked at MTV Networks Australia. She also enjoyed a stint overseas in New York where she joined the MTV Integrated Marketing Team.
Fein starts work at Ensemble, which has 50 staff based in Sydney and Melbourne, in March.
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