B&T’s Best Of The Best Big Spenders, Presented By Finecast, Part Of GroupM Nexus

In a world full of fluffy and eccentric creatives, our investment and trading leaders are the finance people steering us all to profitability and success. 

They are the experts driving forward the whole industry, helping it to grow in size as well as impact.

In this week’s Best Of The Best list, we celebrate the top ten investors and traders within the Australian media industry. 

If you like lists, and these ones in particular, you can check out the B&T Best of The Best top 10 for media agency rainmakers. 

10. Lorraine Woods, National Head Of Trading, Atomic 212º

Woods is a highly-experienced and skilled trading director who well and truly knows her stuff.

She has a proven history of working in the marketing and advertising industry and is adept at media buying and planning, television, and sponsorship. Always keen to expand her knowledge she also has a Mini MBA focused in marketing from Marketing Week Mini MBA with Mark Ritson.

Prior to joining Atomic 212º seven years ago, Woods was at MediaCom.

She recently spoke to B&T about the impact VOZ is having on media buying. 

9. Elizabeth Baker, Chief Investment Officer at Zenith Media Australia

A highly-respected and loyal leader, Elizabeth Baker has spent 10 years at Zenith, climbing up the ranksall the way to chief investment officer.

She is responsible for driving the continued growth and success of the agency’s investment capability; including working closely with Publicis Groupe’s central media investment and intelligence practice and Publicis Media Exchange (PMX).

Talking about her promotion last year, Zenith Australia CEO, Nickie Scriven, said Baker  “had done an exceptional job in leading our investment product and capability. Lizzie’s well-deserved promotion is a recognition of her great work and depth of experience and expertise.”

8.Lucie (Wombwell) Jansen, Chief Investment Officer at Spark Foundry

Lucie, (Wombwell) Jansen is a highly intelligent and analytical leader with a career spanning both Australia and the UK.

She is currently chief investment officer at Spark Foundry, a role she was promoted to in April of last year. Prior to joining Spark Foundry she was head of investment at Blue 449, and before that she spent just under five years at MEC.

She also has experience in the UK, and has worked as PHD and Starcom in London.

7. Kevin Fernandes, National Head of Partnerships and AdTech, Havas Media Network

Kevin Fernandes joined Havas as head of products in 2018 and has gone from strength to strength since landing the role.

In March of this year, he was promoted to the newly-created role of national head of partnerships and AdTech at Havas Media Network.

The newly created role coincided with a restructure of Havas Media Group’s Partnerships team that fuses online and above-the-line channel planning and buying to focus on engaging with audiences across all channels in all formats.

He has also previously held roles at Google, where he was last an account manager.

6. Anthony Bartram, General Manager – Agyle (Principal Buying), Part of Dentsu

Anthony Bartram has a track record of leading teams, negotiating contracts and leading sales strategy, as well as sales operations.

He is highly skilled at developing commercial strategies that create more revenue as well as successful profit outcomes. 

A bit of a maverick, Bartram says he has a “natural inclination towards challenging the status quo” and isn’t afraid to think outside of the box when it comes to strategy. 

5. Louise Romeo, Chief Operating Officer at Starcom

Louise Romeo has been with Starcom Australia for close to three years and was recently promoted to chief operating officer. She joined Starcom as the chief client officer for personal care and consumer products company P&G back in 2020, before moving into the national head of operations and investment role in 2022.

At the time of her promotion, Starcom CEO, Nick Keenan, said: “We are thrilled to recognise Louise for her exceptional contribution and craft expertise over the past few years to deliver outstanding results. She is process-focused and an operation powerhouse, so we look forward to her contribution in this new role and her continued leadership in supporting our team and clients.”

4. Nick Thomas, Chief Investment Officer at EssenceMediacom Australia

Someone identified as a rising star early on in his career – he was named a winner at B&T’s annual 30Under30 Awards at just 23 years of age – Nick Thomas continues to deliver great things.

He was named as chief investment officer at EssenceMediacom in January this year, after previously holding the same role at MediaCom.

Thomas began his journey with MediaCom in 2012 and has worked with an array of world-class marketers including P&G, KFC, Universal, Foxtel, Volkswagen, IKEA, Victorian Government.

3. Lucy Formosa Morgan, managing director at MAGNA Global

LFormosa Morgan is a fierce and passionate changemaker who is making her impact in the industry known.

She has over 20 years’ experience across Australia and the UK and is a natural and authentic leader commanding respect across the industry.

As well as being a mentor to a number of senior women executives, she was one of the main drivers for gender diversity within PHD Australia.

Passionate about climate change, she was instrumental in PHD being named the most sustainable agency in Australia’s advertising industry.

2. Melissa Hey, Chief Investment Officer, GroupM

With more than 25 years’ experience working across major categories including retail, government, FMCG, automotive, consumer electronics, QSR and finance, and experience managing the largest agency investment portfolio in Australia, Hey is a leading investment expert and highly regarded across the industry.

She recently joined GroupM after spending 12 years at OMD.

At OMD she was responsible for leading the investment strategy and value management for the agency’s portfolio of blue-chip Australian and global brands. Prior to that she held investment roles at Publicis Groupe and Dentsu.

1.Kristiaan Kroon, Chief Investment Officer, Omnicom Media Group

Kristiaan Kroon is a high-passionate leader with his fingers very close to the pulse of the advertising and media industry within Australia.

With a media career spanning more than 20 years, there are few who know the industry better.

He began his career in the UK at News International and moved to Sydney in 2015, where he took up the role of director of commercial development and partnerships at Fairfax.

He is highly experienced in digital and data-driven strategies and has built his leadership style to fit the complexities of today’s business-transforming landscape.