Movers & Shakers: UM, Leo, DDB, oOh!, AKQA, Special

By AdNews | 17 April 2025

It's hard to keep up with all the latest moves across media, marketing and advertising, so we've made a list. Check out some of the biggest moves this week.

UM Sydney managing director made redundant

UM has made the role of managing director Sydney redundant, citing “the changing needs of business and position the agency for growth”. 

Leo Australia appoints chief client partner and transformation director

Magda Triantafyllidis joins as chief client partner for financial services client ANZ and Philip Hwang as transformation director.

The Do Collective appoints Nathan Quailey managing director

In the newly created role, he will report to The Do Collective’s founder, Ben Walker. 

DDB Sydney redundancies

The agency, part of Omnicom, is believed to be making cuts globally. It is unclear how many local roles have been affected. 

ARN appoints oOh!’s Ben Campbell to head digital strategy and ventures 

He will be responsible for the ARN digital strategy, data strategy and data partnerships, digital advertising product development, Adtech and the development of a digital centre of excellence.

AKQA in four key global appointments

Miriam Plon Sauer returns to AKQA as chief strategy officer.  Ben Royce joins as chief technology officer. Tim Devine joins as chief invention officer. Jonathan Bolden has been promoted to chief transformation officer.

KWP+Partners founder Dav Tabeshfar departs

Dav Tabeshfar and Bryan Dennis founded &Partners in 2017. In 2023 the agency merged with kwpx to form KWP+Partners.

Special appoints Peter Defries and Alan Wilson to Uber team

They join as regional group creative directors on Uber and Uber Eats, and have been a creative partnership for 14 years, returning to Australia after almost a decade in New York. 

Foxtel's Annie Griffiths joins Seven as director, commercial strategy and innovation

The Seven Network has appointed Annie Griffiths to the new role of director, commercial strategy and innovation.

ARN shakes up sales structure

The broadcaster has introduced a state-based sales structure and appointed sales directors: Ashlea Reece (Sydney); Nick Flood (Melbourne); Emily Buckby (Brisbane);  Sonia Russo (Adelaide); Aaron Bryant (Perth).  

 

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