The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) has announced that Martin Brown, director of eBusiness, strategy, and marketing at Nestlé Oceania, has been elected Chair of its Board.
He replaces Matt Tapper (featured image, right), managing director of Global Markets at Lion, who announced in December his decision to step down from the Board during 2019.
Martin Brown (featured image, left) joined the AANA Board last November and Tapper said he has already made a valuable contribution.
Tapper said: “I am delighted that the Board has chosen Martin as Chair.
“I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with him for the last nine months and have developed a great respect for his strategic capabilities.
“Having worked in senior marketing roles in Europe, North America, Asia and now Australia, Martin understands how advertising is evolving across the globe and I have every confidence the organisation will continue to be an effective champion of responsible, innovative and respected marketing under Martin’s leadership.”
Tapper joined the AANA Board in 2010 and has served as Chair for the past four years.
Brown said Tapper had made a significant contribution to the marketing profession and advanced the interests of brand owners on a number of fronts.
Brown commented: “I’m very honoured to be asked to Chair the Board.
“Matt and his colleagues have consistently advanced our collective interests by empowering CEO John Broome and his team to evolve the self-regulatory system, strengthen our governance structures and, more recently, steer our response to the ACCC’s Digital Platforms Inquiry.
“I am particularly impressed by the high level of engagement and collaboration that Matt and John have fostered with other leading marketing bodies and I look forward to building on these foundations.”
The AANA Board also welcomed two new independent directors: former senior television executive, corporate lawyer & senior advertising executive Sue Oddie and Kym Pfitzner, who spent almost three decades building an executive leadership career in the global media and advertising sector.
The pair now hold a number of non-executive directorships.
Also joining the AANA Board are Aisling Finch, Google’s director of marketing, for Australia and New Zealand; Martine Jager, chief digital and Marketing officer at Westpac; and Tegan Flanagan, external relations and corporate communications director at Lion.
Brown said: “I’d like to welcome all our new directors.
“We recently changed our Constitution to require the appointment of two independent directors to ensure that we have the right mix of experience and expertise to deliver best practice governance, so I’m particularly pleased to welcome Sue and Kym.
“In light of Matt’s departure, Tegan joins the Board as Lion’s representative.
“Tegan has been highly active on a number of our committees and brings with her a strong background in regulatory affairs that will be very useful as we continue to advance our self-regulatory agenda.
He added: “In Aisling and Martine we have two of Australia’s foremost marketers and it is testament to the AANA’s strength and the important role that we play that we’ve been able to secure their involvement on our Board.
“It is also noteworthy that we now have equal gender representation on our Board and that reflects the increasing number of women taking up leadership roles in the marketing profession.”
The announcements follow the appointment of Grant Blackley, chief executive officer and managing director at Southern Cross Austereo, to the Board in May.
