Movers and Shakers: M&C Saatchi, Clems, Seven West Media, QBE

By AdNews | 30 June 2017
 

It's hard to keep up with all the moves across media, marketing and advertising so we've compiled them all in one place. Check out the Movers and Shakers from this week.

TubeMogul’s Stephen Hunt joins Universal Music in senior role

Former TubeMogul APAC MD and all round programmatic pioneer, Stephen Hunt, has joined Universal Music Group Australia. Hunt, who established the Australian subsidiary of TubeMogul in 2012, taking it to a leadership position in the online video space by integrating the offering with the local TV market, is now the global music corporation’s MD of emerging technologies. Hunt will be responsible for the strategic direction and operational management of Universal Music Group Australia’s digital media team. More here.

M&C Saatchi founder Tom Dery steps down as worldwide chairman

M&C Saatchi founder Tom Dery is stepping down as worldwide chairman of the network. Dery, who founded the Australian office in 1995, will remain as chairman of M&C Saatchi Australia. In his 19 year tenture at the group, Dery founded the Australian, Asian and West Coast US businesses. He has been in the worldwide chairman role for nine years. Dery has sat on both the client and agency side in his career. Prior to M&C Saatchi, he was founding partner of The Campaign Palace, founder of Whybin Dery & Barnes (precursor to TBWA in Australia) and MD of DDB Melbourne. In 2015, Dery became an Officer of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday honours list. He will continue working out of the M&C Saatchi Sydney office. Find out more here

Clemenger Sydney lures Leo Burnett’s COO

Clemenger Sydney has lured Leo Burnett’s chief operating officer Jeremy de Villiers to the agency as head of operations. De Villiers has been at Leo’s for six years, holding the COO position for a little over a year. He will play an important role in the new management line up at Clemenger, which includes the recent hire of Ben Coulson. Innocean Australian hires former Monkeys creative Paul Bruce Innocean Australia has hired former Monkeys creative Paul Bruce as creative director for the agency. Bruce was most recently ECD at Zoo Group, following his three year stint at The Monkeys. He has held positions at The Glue Society, Mother, Publicis Mojo and Mother in his 20 year career. The move reunites Bruce with Innocean ECD Steve Jackson. More here

Marketforce's John Driscoll resurfaces as Seven West Media WA CEO

Marketforce's John Driscoll has resurfaced as the CEO of Seven West Media Western Australia, following the departure of Chris Wharton at the end of last year. Driscoll announced he would be stepping down from Perth-based creative agency Marketforce last week after almost 30 years within the business, most recently as chairman and CEO. He will join the senior executive team and report to Seven West Media CEO Tim Worner. Driscoll will lead the development of Seven West Media’s business in WA including TVW7 Perth, The West Australian, The Sunday Times, thewest.com,au and perthnow.com.au, as well as 20 regional mastheads and Red Wave Radio which includes nine regionals stations. More on the move here

M&C Saatchi creates ANZ director role

M&C Saatchi Mobile has appointed Bobbie Gersbach-Smith to the newly created role of ANZ director, following a reported surge in mobile ad spend in Australia and New Zealand this year. Gersbach-Smith has spent the past eight years in the digital sector, most recently as an account director at M&C Saatchi Mobile. The agency is forecasting mobile ad spend in the ANZ region to account for over 50% of digital spend in 2017. M&C Saatchi Mobile is currently working with Sportsbet, Hotels Combined, iHeart Radio, Microsoft and Carousell. In other M&C Saatchi news, Australian founder Tom Dery recently stepped down as worldwide chairman of the agency. More here

AusPost hires former Blackmores CEO 

Former Blackmores CEO Christine Holgate has been appointed CEO of Australia Post, taking over from Ahmed Fahour. The move comes a week after the announcement AusPost would be reviewing its creative roster in a closed pitch. According to ABC News, the hire will help Australia Post pursue its Asian strategy, due to Holgate’s previous experience in successfully growing businesses in the region. She will officially start at AusPost in mid-to-late October. Fahour resigned earlier this year after his $5.6 million salary was revealed after a long battle with the Senate committee. Fahour had been CEO for seven years. The new hire will likely delay the appointment of a creative agency. Read more here

Ben Coulson lures four new creatives to Clemenger Sydney

Clemenger Sydney has bolstered its creative team with addition of four new hires. The hires are the first for chief creative officer Ben Coulson, who has been at the creative helm since February this year. Former Grey London creative Darren Wright has returned to Australia to take up the position as creative director at the agency. Clemenger Sydney has also lured The Monkeys’ Michael Pollard to join the creative team as art director. The new appointments round out Clemenger’s expansion of the creative team following the recent hire of art director's Tom Knighton and Sophie Horne. More on the move here

RadiumOne assets bought in global deal; Kerry McCabe exits

Tech platform RadiumOne's assets have been bought by global company RhythmOne (R1) in a deal that sees Asia-Pacific boss Kerry McCabe exit. McCabe, who formerly ran the Australian business, took on a regional role in September with the plan to later relocate to the US with the company. He will now remain in Australia. More on R1 here

Greg Graham takes on AANA project post until CEO is named

GroupM’s Greg Graham is taking on a temporary post at the AANA as the organisation continues its search for a new CEO. Graham is taking on a caretaker position lead the AANA’s events calendar over the coming months, to fill the gap between current CEO Sunita Gloster leaving and her replacement coming on board. He will be project director working with the AANA team looking after the flagship Reset event in October, and the AANA’s wider events calendar. More on Greg Graham here.

QBE appoints first chief customer officer

QBE Australia and New Zealand has appointed its first ever chief customer officer, promoting executive general manager for marketing Bettina Pidcock into the role. She joined QBE as in 2016. The CCO role was created as part of an organisational restructure to ensure a stronger customer focus. QBE CEO Pat Regan says Pidcock has already done a "fantastic job" in bringing a persistent focus on customers using data to drive decisions and better outcomes. Pidcock will retain responsibilities for marketing, communications and digital and will oversee the customer experience team. More here

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