Half Dome announced the promotion of two senior staff into the new roles of general manager and head of client service, as co-founder Tom Frazer steps into the managing director role.
Catherine Smith, who joined the independent media agency a year ago as head of operations, has been promoted to general manager.
Smith joined Half Dome with 15 years’ industry experience and was previously head of product – programmatic at Dentsu.
The newly appointed general manager has also worked as senior account executive at Amazon, was general manager for Dentsu’s Amnet, and held roles at Telstra and Sensis.
In her new role at Half Dome, Smith will be responsible for leading overall business operations, the scaling of unique workflows and services, and people and team growth planning aligned with client needs.
Catherine Smith
Rhett Mitchelhill has been promoted to the new role of head of client service from group business director at Half Dome.
Mitchelhill will be responsible for stretching across all client teams, leading their delivery and development, and overseeing the health of all clients with a focus on building deep relationships and providing market-leading service.
Before joining Half Dome when the agency first began, he was with Columbus as performance manager and Dentsu as client service manager.
Rhett Mitchelhill
Under the new structure, Tom Frazer relinquishes his general manager role to become managing director as the agency enters a significant growth phase, with new business wins including youtime, Petspiration Group, Mighty Craft, and Ego Pharmaceuticals.
Frazer said: “Half Dome has always focused on creating a space for our people and customers to thrive. Earlier this year, when discussing how we could balance continuing to provide the best service to our existing customers with our strong growth ambitions, it became clear we needed the right leadership team to get us there.
“It became abundantly clear we already had the right people in the organisation, and that a restructure was required to ensure we played our leaders to their strengths.
Tom Frazer
“Rhett was Half Dome’s first employee, coming across from Columbus with a combination of energy yet maturity well beyond his years. It has been an absolute pleasure to watch him grow, knowing now his value to our clients and people is simply immeasurable – he is someone I look up to, and hope to work alongside for several more years to come.
“Since Cath came on board, her impact has been profound – we have quickly become a highly professional business under her guidance, and with this promotion into our General Manager, expect this trend to continue,” he added.
Smith said of her new role: “My first 12 months with the Half Dome team has flown by! I was warmly welcomed to dig in and get involved in all aspects of the business in my operational capacity and I am now thrilled to step into the general manager role, an incredible opportunity and one that will bring me closer to our clients and teams, working alongside Rhett who will excel in leading client solutions.
“We speak a lot about the client and people experience being at the heart of what we do, and how we do it, and our current changes speak to Half Dome’s commitment to that core goal of ensuring both our clients and people are happy and thriving as the business grows. I can’t wait to work with both our leadership and client teams as we power into this next phase together,” he added.
Mitchelhill said of his appointment: “I am really excited to step into this role which brings together two of my passions, our people, and our clients. Our people are fantastic and the best thing about life at Half Dome. There is an incredible culture that exists here, and I look forward in this role being able to work with all our teams to develop skillsets, provide opportunities and improve our connection across the agency.
“What this role will bring is also a more holistic view of our clients, which I am excited about. We enjoy how clients bring us into their business so that we can collaboratively work together to achieve common goals. This I believe helps us to provide a market-leading experience for our client partners. I am deeply ingrained in the business and am blessed with the opportunities that have been provided for me, so I cannot wait to tuck into this role,” he added.
The promotions follow the appointment of former Spark Foundry head of investment, Paul Wilkinson as head of commercial this year.
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Top image: Catherine Smith, Rhett Mitchelhill and Tom Frazer