Buckman to trigger AANA board changes

By Paul McIntyre | 15 March 2011
 
Mark Buckman.

The departure of the Commonwealth Bank’s chief marketing officer Mark Buckman to the same role at Telstra next month will force a board reshuffle at the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA).

As it stands today, Telstra could appear to dominate corporate representation at the AANA with three past, current and future executives serving currently on the board – former Telstra brand and marketing head Amanda Johnston-Pell is now an independent director and Telstra’s current director of brand, marketing strategy and planning, Inese Kingsmill, is the telco’s new AANA representative.

Buckman, who is the AANA’s deputy chair, will start as Telstra’s chief marketing officer on April 4, resulting in the AANA being forced to change its board composition.

Buckman told AdNews the Commonwealth Bank would want to retain its AANA board representation and because AANA membership was corporate, not individual, his seat would be taken over by another bank executive.

When asked if he would want to continue at the AANA, Buckman said: “I haven’t even thought about that yet. There will be time to work on those issues.”

AANA chief executive Scott McClellan said Johnston-Pell was appointed as an independent AANA board director after she split with Telstra and he was “not aware of any plan for Mark to take on the position that Inese Kingsmill has taken up with the board. We would expect her to continue as our board representative for Telstra.”

He said the AANA has made changes to its constitution, allowing for up to 18 board members – currently there are 16. With Buckman leaving, it also means the deputy chair becomes vacant.

“We will have to appoint a new deputy chair, that’s correct,” McClellan told AdNews. “But it’s not essential. There’s no rush to have that person in place.”

The AANA’s next full board meeting was not due until June but McClellan said plans were underway for another to be scheduled in the next six weeks.

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