Bastion Brands senior team
Bastion Brands, a health communications agency within Havas Group ANZ, has announced a leadership change with founder and CEO Simon Davies stepping down and Dan King promoted to managing director.
Simon Davies will step down at the end of June to spend time with family overseas, after which he will support Havas Health projects in Europe.
Davies leaves Bastion Brands after 14 years, having built a specialist health team that partners with top pharma and health companies including Danone, Sanofi, GSK and CSL. He has grown teams in Melbourne and Sydney and in November 2022 helped guide the agency's acquisition by Havas.
"Simon leaves a legacy at Bastion Brands and within Havas ANZ. He helped create a specialist agency that pairs scientific depth with powerful creativity to drive outcomes for clients," said James Wright, CEO of Havas Group ANZ.
Dan King, executive director of Bastion Brands, has been promoted to managing director. In this new role, King will lead Bastion Brands' Melbourne and Sydney offices.
He joined the agency in 2019 and has worked across Australian and global clients on complex commercial and communications programs for medical, pharmaceutical and life science businesses. During the transition over the coming months, Davies and King will work together to ensure continuity for clients and the team.
"We are now fully integrated within Havas. This is the right moment to pass the baton. Dan knows our clients, our people and our craft. The agency is in great hands," said Davies.
King will focus on continuing the agency's momentum through innovation, specialist capability and collaboration across Havas and with clients locally and internationally.
"We will keep investing in specialist capability, including an AI enabled and data fluent team that helps clients move faster and make smarter decisions," said King.
"Within the Havas ecosystem we are applying responsible, privacy safe AI to insight mining, medical content workflows and performance optimisation. Clients can expect the same team, the same commitment and even more momentum."
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