Google has appointed former News Digital Media COO Nick Leeder as managing director for Australia and New Zealand, replacing Karim Temsamani.
Leeder will lead Google’s sales and business development operations in Australia and New Zealand. He worked previously at News Limited, where he was COO of News Digital Media since 2006 and deputy CEO of The Australian.
Leeder will be replaced by Brett Clegg at News Limited as deputy chief executive of The Australian's commercial team.
Prior to joining News, Leeder worked at Fairfax and at McKinsey & Co. Leeder will start at Google Australia & New Zealand in late March 2011 and replaces Temsamani, who departed to head the search giant's global mobile sales team.
Google president Asia Pacific and Japan Daniel Alegre said: "Nick joins Google at an exciting time for our business and for the digital economy in Australia and New Zealand. Google is investing significantly in Australia and New Zealand to help businesses of all sizes, from small and large advertisers to advertising agencies and publishers, grow online. In the next year, Nick will help us to increase our investment locally and better serve our users, advertisers, and partners."
Leeder said: "I'm excited to have the opportunity to take on this new role. Google is a company that’s not afraid to take risks and experiment with new ways to help users, advertisers, and partners. Their business is innovation, and I look forward to being part of that and joining Google’s strong local leadership team."
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