Publicis Media's Chris Nolan to exit
Publicis Media ANZ chief operating officer Chris Nolan will leave the agency group at the end of May. The role will not be replaced. Nolan is looking to new career opportunities and will be working with Publicis Media ANZ CEO, Matt James, to transition his responsibilities in the coming month. “I would like to thank Chris for his commitment and leadership contribution to Publicis Media in Australia over the last two years," Publicis Media APAC CEO Gerry Boyle says. Read more.
Southern Cross Austereo's Steve Brown exits network
Head of digital innovation and operations at Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) Steve Brown has left the network, AdNews revealed. Brown, who has been at the radio network since 2015, has nearly 20 years of experience and has spoken at many industry events on hot topics such as programmatic radio. He's also on a programmatic radio panel next week, speaking a Sydney's Ad Tech Meetup. A spokesperson from SCA told AdNews the company won't replace the role. Read more.
Danielle Uskovic appointed LinkedIn marketing director of sales and marketing solutions APAC
LinkedIn has appointed Danielle Uskovic as marketing director of sales and marketing solutions APAC. Based out of Singapore, she will start in her new position in early June. Joining in 2007, Uskovic left Lenovo in April after more than 10 years with the technology company. She held various roles such as environment manager, social media and digital marketing manager for Lenovo ANZ before taking on her APAC leadership at the beginning of 2016.
M&C Saatchi Group appoints Sophie Price to newly created role
M&C Saatchi Group has appointed Sophie Price to the newly created role of head of integrated strategy. The role is rooted in Bohemia and will serve to leverage Price’s skill set based on her time leading strategy for both creative and media. The position is designed to benefit both the wider M&C Saatchi Group as well as Bohemia’s partner agencies. Price joined the group in 2017 as head of group strategy. Her work has won multiple Cannes Lions and Grand Prix awards from the Australian Effies and the Media Federation of Australia.
Pip Ireland appointed creative director for Principals Melbourne
Branding design agency Principals has appointed Pip Ireland as its Melbourne creative director. Ireland, who has been freelancing with the agency for the past six months, has previously held roles at Designworks in New Zealand and Melbourne as well as Moon Communications in Sydney. Ireland’s appointment coincides with two promotions across the wider agency with Andrew Thompson stepping up to the role of design director, while James Welch has moved into the role of creative director.
MercerBell grows digital team with three new hires
MercerBell has made three senior digital appointments in creative, technology and production, boosting its customer experience credentials. Tom Chilcott joins as digital delivery director, bringing a wealth of experience in project leadership and digital production. Ram Castillo comes to the team as digital design lead, bringing award-winning digital design honed on brands such as Qantas, Audi, Coca-Cola, Telstra, Google and Westpac. The third new team member is Remon Saddik as technical lead. He has 15 years experience in front and back end development and design, on both agency and client side. His career includes time at Commbank, Foxtel and VML, where he worked with clients such as BankWest, ASB and Hyundai. At CommBank he oversaw the award-winning website redesign.
Columbus appoints national head of product and partnerships and launches Columbus Core
Columbus, a Merkle Company, has promoted Mark Duffy to national head of product and partnerships, to lead the agency’s newly formed data, product and strategic division, Columbus Core. The team will deliver strategic solutions in data, content and social media for clients. Duffy has been with Columbus for four years as group business director on some of the agency’s largest clients and more recently as head of performance. The agency has also appointed Andrew Molan to national head of data, and Daniel Tobin to national head of experience.
Cummins&Partners appoints Paul Murphy to lead media offering
Former Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) national media manager Paul Murphy has joined Cummins&Partners Melbourne as its head of media. Cummins&Partners says the hire follows growth in its media offering, tripling its clients in the last six months. Murphy's appointment follows the departure of chief media officer James Greet last year who resigned from the agency after less than 18 months. Murphy has more than 20 years experience in media, previously working at Ford's dedicated agency, Blue Hive, Mindshare and OMD. Read more.
303 MullenLowe ECD Richard Morgan exits
After five years, 303 MullenLowe ECD and partner Richard Morgan has left the agency. Gary McCreadie, who recently departed Ugly, is tipped to be his replacement. 303 MullenLowe has declined to comment on McCreadie's appointment, saying it will announce its new ECD next month. Morgan joined 303 MullenLowe in 2015 from DDB Sydney, where he was creative director for just under a year. He has also held roles at Holler, BMF and AMV BBDO. 303 MullenLowe CEO Nick Cleaver says Morgan is a "true talent". Read more.
Jamila Rizvi joins Nine's new subscription women's site
Former Mamamia editor-in-chief and author Jamila Rizvi is joining Nine’s new women-focused digital subscription business, Future Women, as editor-in-large. Unveiled at last year’s Nine Upfronts, Future Women is a subscription site aimed at professional women and female entrepreneurs. Rizvi worked at Mamamia between 2012-2015 before quietly exiting the company and later resurfacing as a columnist at News Corp’s news.com.au and Kidspot.com.au. Read more.
Blue 449 appoints new head of investment
Lucie Wombwell has been appointed Blue 449's new head of investment. Wombwell replaces Daniel Cutrone who left Blue 449 to lead media operations at Avenue C with his brother. Prior to joining Blue 449, Wombwell spent over six years at MEC (now Wavemaker) rising to the position of Sydney trading director. Before that she spent time in London as broadcast group manager for PHD UK. Wombwell will lead a team 17 strong, managing clients including 20th Century Fox, TAL Insurance, AustralianSuper, NRMA, HCF and Menulog.
Karen Lewis joins Salmat as head of digital and performance marketing
Salmat hass appointed Karen Lewis as its new head of digital and performance marketing. Lewis brings a wealth of experience from working in various global digital agencies and heading up digital marketing divisions across many industries including financial services, retail and travel. She has also held strong senior client side roles across her career which allows her to bring a customer centric approach to digital strategy and innovation across the marketing solutions team. Lewis also holds a Vice Chair and board member position at The Digital + Technology Collective.
Chris Skelton, Former MD of Adobe ANZ, appointed as chief revenue officer for Marketplacer
Marketplacer has appointed Chris Skelton as its new chief revenue officer. Skelton, with over 20 years of industry experience and most recently the MD of Adobe in Australia and New Zealand, will be responsible for leading the sales function at Marketplacer. Skelton’s appointment comes after a period of growth Marketplacer stated, having signed some of Australia’s largest retailers to the platform, including Myer, Bob Jane T-Mart and Jayco. Marketplacer, an Australian company with more than 10 years international experience developing marketplaces including Bike Exchange, now operates in 11 countries.
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