Nicola Lewis, GroupM Australia's chief investment officer (CIO), has been promoted to global chief growth officer of Finecast, the company's fast-growing addressable TV business.
She will work alongside Global CEO Jakob Nielsen to supercharge the Finecast global footprint, with expansion into 20 countries over the next 24 months.
The move will see Lewis return home to Europe in December.
“As CIO, I’ve been fortunate to work with an incredibly smart group of people who have helped me strengthen and futureproof GroupM’s approach to investment and partnerships," says Nicola Lewis.
"It’s been deeply satisfying to collaborate with our media owner partners to push the market forwards, enabling GroupM to consistently deliver optimal value to our clients.
"It has also been a pleasure to be part of the Finecast journey so far. As the second international territory to launch in 2018, we’ve seen it grow phenomenally as clients adopt addressable TV, so the opportunity to drive the global expansion of Finecast, delivering the power of TV with the precision of data for GroupM clients around the world, is incredibly exciting.
"Of course, I will miss my beloved Australia, but after 18 years away am happy to be moving back closer to my family”.
In her time as chief investment officer, Lewis has evolved and futureproofed the investment and partnerships capability at GroupM, creating a highly skilled and passionate investment community of more than 400 people across Mindshare, MediaCom, Wavemaker and Essence.
She has also been key to bringing GroupM’s market-leading innovations to market, working with her direct team to build out the first Programmatic Digital OOH Marketplace, in partnership with Hivestack, launching Motion Content Group in Australia, and assisting with the growth of Finecast.
GroupM will be appointing a replacement to oversee Investment and Partnerships in due course.
Lewis has been chief investment officer of GroupM since 2018. Before that she was chief investment officer of GroupM agency Mindshare.
She spent 17 years of her career working in senior commercial positions within large media organisations. She is shortlisted for executive leader of the year as part of the 2020 Women in Media Awards.
GroupM Australia CEO Mark Lollback: “While we’re incredibly sad to see a talented member of our leadership team move on, Nicola has made an incredible contribution to the growth and development of GroupM, our agencies, and our people, creating a strong and sophisticated Investment & Partnerships community across GroupM Australia, led by strong investment leads in each agency. Her progression from Mindshare, to GroupM and now to Finecast, is exactly the kind of fulfilling career development that GroupM offers all our people and we’re pleased that she remains part of the GroupM family.”
Jakob Nielsen, Finecast Global CEO: “WPP is investing in technology, data and people to support the growth and success of Finecast and we’re now live in 5 markets with more to come. I am incredibly excited to welcome Nicola to the Finecast Global leadership team. Her past experience leading investment, driving innovation and delivering commercial growth, makes her perfectly placed to lead our engagement with agencies and clients, support the markets and work closely with media owners all over the world.”
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