Mediaweek’s Media Movers charts the biggest people moves in the industry over the past week.
Mark Read
Mark Read will retire from the Board and as CEO of WPP after more than 30 years with the company, as of 31 December 2025.
Read has decided that the time is right for him to hand over to a new leader and the search for a successor is underway.
He said: “WPP is an incredible company with over 100,000 talented and creative people, wonderful clients and partners, and an unmatched presence around the world. It has been an immense privilege to serve as its CEO for the past seven years.
“When I took on this role our mission was to build a simpler, stronger business, and put structure and new energy behind our creativity and performance, powered by world-leading technology.
“I am proud that our teams across the business have delivered that exceptionally well. Our clients today rate us more highly than ever before, we now work with four of the world’s five most valuable companies, and our revenues with our biggest clients have grown consistently.
WPP Media Australia & New Zealand has bolstered its social media, content creation and influencer marketing capabilities with the promotion of Shivani Maharaj to Chief Creator Officer and Toby Maclachlan appointed as Head of Creative Strategy.
Maharaj was formerly Chief Content & Partnerships Officer at WPP Media agency brand, Wavemaker, and has been recognised with media trade awards, industry accolades and has been a Cannes Lions Juror in Social & Influencer and sits on the AiMCO Guiding Council.
Maclachlan joins from Mediabrands Content Studio (MBCS), where he was Head of Strategy and Product. He lead the delivery of creative and innovative experiences designed to deeply connect brands with consumers. Prior to that he was at Initiative and previously spent more than a decade in creative agencies.
Sophie Sykes, Alexandra Nel, Wez Hawes
72andSunny Sydney has unveiled its new leadership team as Ross Berthinussen departs the agency after six years, to return to his native UK.
Replacing Berthinussen as Managing Director is Sophie Sykes, who joins from Howatson+Company where she was client partner and the agency’s third employee.
Alexandra Nel joins in the newly created role of Executive Strategy Director having previously overseen Telstra as Head of Strategy at +61. Prior to that, she held roles at TBWA/Australia and Leo Burnett.
The new leadership team structure comes at a time of momentum for the agency, with recent wins including Big W, AFL, Cadillac, and Princess Cruises, plus the recent hiring of Wez Hawes as CCO, a new look creative department, and a move to a new larger studio space in The Rocks.
Lexlab has promoted Maija Gwynn from Head of Digital, to General Manager.
Gwynn brings more than 25 years of digital advertising experience to her new role and her promotion recognises her leadership with the Melbourne-based independent digital advertising agency, and her role it in its evolution and client growth as the company plans to expand in the Asia Pacific.
She brings more than 25 years of digital advertising experience to her new role, having held senior positions in sales, strategy, client-side and operations at a variety of multi-national companies.
Simon Lee and Aldo Ferretto
Enigma has appointed Aldo Ferretto as Creative Director and Head of Art, a role that reunites him with Chief Creative Officer Simon Lee.
Ferretto brings close to two decades advertising experience to the role, alongside a proven track record of creative excellence. Before joining Lee at The Hallway in 2019, he worked at leading creative agencies, including LOLA MullenLowe, DDB Spain, Publicis Australia, Leo Burnett Buenos Aires, and Lowe & Partners Chile.
His work has been recognised at every major international award show, including D&AD, Cannes Lions, One Show, New York Festivals, Clios, Eurobest, Andys and Spikes.
Ferretto and Lee share an award-winning creative partnership during their time working together at The Hallway, they were instrumental in the creation of a body of work that saw the agency ranked second-best medium-sized agency in Australia in 2024(CB) and #3 Indie in the region (Cannes Report).
Publicis Groupe ANZ has appointed Matt Houltham as CEO of Starcom Australia.
He will begin in the new role in July and will report to Imogen Hewitt, Chief Media Officer, Publicis Groupe ANZ.
Houltham brings 25 years of experience to the role in managing media and strategy agencies across ANZ, the US and the UK, as was previously CEO of Havas Media ANZ and MD of Naked Communications in New York and Melbourne.
He also previously led the digital media operations at the former ZenithOptimedia, now known as Zenith Australia, which is part of Publicis Groupe. Houltham also played a pivotal role in scaling market research platform Glow in his capacity as global Chief Marketing Officer.
Houltham joins Chief Operating Officer, Louise Romeo and Chief Client & Growth Officer, Scott McCaffrey on the Starcom Australia executive leadership team, working closely to ensure the continued growth and success of the agency business.
Bobbie Gersbach
M+C Saatchi Group has unveiled its new strategic transformation to align with the evolving needs of modern clients and the rapidly changing media landscape.
The agency will expand M+C Saatchi Performance and strengthen its strategic media planning capabilities with a partner-led model. The Group will also retire its Bohemia brand, which was present only in Australia.
M+C Saatchi Performance will operate from its headquarters in Singapore under the leadership of CEO Kabeer Chaudhary, who reports to Karen Boswell, new global CEO, Digital Experience, Performance & Consulting, as announced last week.
The Group is investing in the Performance’s team, capabilities, and technology to support its expansion globally, beginning with a focus on the UK, US, and other priority markets, including Southeast Asia.
The first phase of this global expansion will see M+C Saatchi Performance accelerate its presence in Australia, continuing to deliver its cutting-edge digital media capabilities to one of M+C Saatchi Group’s most important growth markets, supported locally by Bobbie Gersbach, M+C Saatchi Performance’s global planning director, based in Sydney.
M+C Saatchi Performance ANZ will offer a culturally driven, data-powered performance model that’s globally scalable and locally relevant. This forms the latest new capability since the Group refocused its proposition on delivering Cultural Power for brands and provides a broadened offering under new Group CEO ANZ, Dani Bassil.
Clemenger Group’s Redhanded has appointed Paul Dodds as the B2B agency’s new managing director, following Stu Shepherd’s decision to step down from the role at the end of June.
Dodds has been with the agency since 2019 and has been pivotal to the agency’s strategic growth, by building integrated media solutions for major clients in agriculture, retail, tourism, and government.
He brings 25 years of experience in advertising and marketing across Australia, the UK and Middle East, working in several senior roles at leading agencies.
Mark Lollback
Metcash has appointed Mark Lollback to lead retail media for the rollout of the company’s new retail media network, LocalEyes .
Lollback brings over three decades of global marketing and executive leadership experience to Metcash.
He has held several high-profile leadership roles across global and regional markets, including CEO of media buying agency GroupM Australia & New Zealand, as well as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at McDonald’s Australia and New Zealand, ANZ Banking Group and Pepsi Lipton International.
Lollback has also held several senior executive roles at Unilever including VP Marketing for the food category in Australasia and CMO China.
He is the Founder and CEO of Global Mentorship & Strategy, and his passion for mentorship and giving back is also reflected in his board roles at Be Centre Foundation, Foodbank Australia and Thankful.
Award-winning reporter Jacob Greber has been appointed Political Editor of the national broadcaster’s flagship current affairs program 7.30.
Greber, currently the ABC’s Chief Digital Political Correspondent, will officially step into the role from 7 July. His appointment follows Laura Tingle’s recent elevation to Global Affairs Editor.
The announcement was made during Thursday night’s edition of 7.30, with host Sarah Ferguson introducing him on-air as someone who’s “not really a guest at all,” nodding to his longstanding press gallery experience.