Mediaweek’s Media Movers charts the biggest people moves in the industry over the past week.
Lenore Taylor resigns from Guardian Australia
The editor of Guardian Australia, Lenore Taylor, has resigned after 10 years in the role.
Guardian Australia said in a statement:
“After 13 years in senior leadership roles, including a decade as editor, Lenore Taylor has decided to leave Guardian Australia.
Prophet builds stronger digital intelligence team with senior engineering hires
Prophet has expanded its technology team with two senior appointments.
The Australian-founded business has appointed Aysa Matueva as Senior Software Engineer and Ruxin Ma as Frontend Developer, in a move it says will support rapid growth and further development of its AI-powered platform.
The Lab strengthens quantitative capability with new hires
The now six-strong team is led by newly promoted executive director James Rochlin.
He is joined by senior quantitative strategist Maria Georgopoulos and quantitative strategists Felix Grant, Charlie Ellis and Ernest Mo.
dentsu doubles down on stability with senior promotions
dentsu has confirmed the permanent appointments of David Halter as Chief Practice Officer, dentsu Creative Australia, and Vanessa Nicol as Chief Operating Officer for dentsu ANZ.
This formalises the roles both leaders have held on an interim basis.
JOLT strengthens its Australian senior leadership with a key hire and promotion
JOLT has bolstered its Australian operations with two senior leadership hires.
Sharnee Rawson joins as Head of Marketing and Communications ANZ and Stuart Moffatt gets promoted to the newly created role of Australian Country Manager.
Amplify appoints Jordan Dale as global creative director
Global creative agency Amplify has appointed Jordan Dale to the newly created role of global creative director,
This move strengthens its senior leadership team as the business approaches one year since joining Common Interest.
Bastion Shine rebrands as Bastion Aotearoa
Independent integrated communications agency Bastion Shine has rebranded as Bastion Aotearoa, marking the next phase of its evolution.
It comes after Bastion Aotearoa acquired a senior team to grow its government and commercial offering in Wellington. Managing director Fleur Head and strategy partner Anna Gunnell officially started last week with the rest to follow.
Supermassive nabs Josh Taylor-Dadds as first-ever executive strategy director
Highly awarded independent creative agency Supermassive has appointed Josh Taylor-Dadds to the newly created role of executive strategy director.
Taylor-Dadds joins Supermassive from TBWA Sydney, where he was head of strategy. Prior to that, he held the role of group strategy director at Special New Zealand.
Havas ANZ promotes Olly Taylor to expanded CSO role
Olly Taylor has been promoted to chief strategy officer across Havas ANZ’s creative and media agencies.
Taylor, who has spent more than a decade in senior leadership roles within Havas Australia, brings more than 25 years of experience in brand and communications strategy.
Venn Talent Australia signs Atong Atem in agency growth play
Venn Talent Australia has added multidisciplinary artist Atong Atem to its roster, strengthening the agency’s focus on representing women of influence across culture, creativity and leadership.
The appointment sees Atong join Venn’s talent stable as the agency continues to scale its footprint in the premium representation space, aligning with creators whose work spans art, media, and public conversation.
Suntory Oceania appoints Bríd Drohan-Stewart as CMO
Multi-beverage giant Suntory Oceania has appointed Bríd Drohan-Stewart as chief marketing officer, Suntory Beverage & Food Oceania, as the business steps up its ambitions across the local beverage market.
Drohan-Stewart will join the Oceania Executive Leadership Team and take direct leadership of Suntory Oceania’s non-alcohol portfolio across Australia and New Zealand, including V Energy, Suntory BOSS Coffee and Maximus.
Medium Rare taps Stephanie Gemes to drive CommBank Connect growth
Medium Rare Content Agency has appointed Stephanie Gemes as Group Sales Manager, CommBank Connect, in a newly created role.
The role is targeted at supporting the continued expansion of CommBank Connect – Australia’s largest financial services owned media network.
Sabarish Chirakkal expands role to lead Val Morgan programmatic strategy
Val Morgan has appointed Sabarish Chirakkal as Group Director – Programmatic, expanding his remit across the company’s outdoor, digital video, display and audio programmatic offerings.
The Sydney-based appointment, announced on 9 February 2026, is positioned as a move to bring a unified approach to Val Morgan’s programmatic strategy, trading and the scaling of “premium programmatic environments” across its portfolio.
Ideally appoints Kirsty Harding as research strategy director
SaaS market research platform Ideally has appointed Kirsty Harding as its first research strategy director.
Her role will focus on ensuring research scales on the Ideally platform in a way that expands creative potential, strengthens decision-making and delivers better commercial outcomes.