The Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA) has appointed Steve Brennen, senior director-marketing and advertising sales with eBay Australia and New Zealand, as chair of the ADMA Board of Directors for a two-year term.

He replaces Karen Ganschow, general manager-CRM and digital, Westpac. Ganshow will remain on the Board for a further two years as past chair.

Tony Davis, director of Quantium, one of the Board’s longest serving members and most recently the past chair, is retiring after nearly 10 years of service.

In addition, Steve Coll, executive creative director of Droga5, joins the board.

“It’s our aim to ensure the ADMA Board of Directors is fully representative of the growing marketing, media and advertising industry. We want to make sure we have experts in fields like data, content, creativity, technology and customer experience at the table. The appointments of Steve Brennen as chair and Steve Coll as a director reflect this mandate, whilst maintaining the highest standards of governance and leadership,” said Jodie Sangster, ADMA CEO.

“We’re delighted to have Steve Brennen take the Chair’s role. He brings exceptional experience in marketing, advertising and e-commerce, and is the right person to lead ADMA into the next phase of our data-driven remit. eBay is very much a data-driven, digitally savvy disruptor and innovator. We are looking forward to the perspective Steve will provide relating to strategy, as we sharpen our focus on delivering value for members through events, education and thought leadership,” she added.

Steve joined eBay Australia/New Zealand as the senior director for marketing and advertising sales in March 2013. He is currently responsible for defining the company’s marketing and advertising strategy and leads all marketing activity across the business. He has been tasked with changing consumer perceptions of eBay to reflect the site’s new direction and service offering. Steve has nearly 20 years of marketing and sales management experience gained across the telecommunications, financial services and logistics industries with a particular focus on digital communications.

“In recent years, ADMA has worked hard to meet the creative community’s needs with initiatives like Creative Fuel, ADMA Creative School and the Young Creative of the Year competition. But we need to do more and Steve Coll, with his award-winning experience, will be invaluable in this regard,” said Sangster.

She said that at the recent AC&E Awards night, judges did not hand out a copywriting award, so more would be done through ADMA’s education offering on that level to address the perceived dearth of copywriting skills in the industry.

“ADMA intends to focus on copywriting and initiate a program to train high quality copywriters for the industry. Steve will be able to help us take the right steps to design the program,” she said.

Prior to joining Droga5, Coll oversaw the revitalisation of Havas Worldwide Australia, helping the agency win a coveted black pencil at D&AD, 12 Cannes Lions, Gold at Clio and was named Havas Worldwide ‘Person of the Year’ in 2013. He was also responsible for AMV BBDO in London winning the inaugural Cannes Grand Prix for Creative Effectiveness 2011 for its Walkers Crisps’ campaign. His other award-winning work includes the McDonald’s Inner Child TV commercial, the first McDonald’s Australia ad to win at Cannes.

In further developments, Stephanie Tully, chief marketing officer-Qantas Loyalty, steps up as vice chair of the Board, and David Bowie, SAS Australia and New Zealand CEO, becomes Treasurer.

With the appointment of Steve Coll, ADMA’s Board now comprises 13 directors.

Tony Davis, one of the longest-serving Board directors in ADMA’s history is stepping down after nearly 10 years, having served as a Board director, chair and past chair.

“Tony’s contribution to ADMA and the industry are immeasurable, and we are grateful for the vision he has brought to ADMA and the time, energy and passion he devoted to the Board. On behalf of the Board, I want to thank him for being a leader and a good friend,” said outgoing chair, Karen Ganschow.” He has truly changed the face of data-driven marketing in Australia, as well as the association that represents the industry.”

In his time on the ADMA Board, Tony helped to fulfil the association’s data-driven mandate, which he recognised early on was essential for ADMA to be relevant and dynamic in a new marketing landscape. He also chaired the ADMA Data Taskforce and helped to produce ADMA’s best practice guidelines around ‘big data.’

The 2014-15 ADMA board comprises:

• Steve Brennen, Senior Director-Marketing and Advertising Sales, eBay Australia and New Zealand (Chair)
• Karen Ganschow, General Manager, CRM and Digital, Westpac (Past Chair)
• Jodie Sangster, CEO and Company Secretary, ADMA
• Stephanie Tully, Chief Marketing Officer, Qantas Loyalty (Vice Chair)
• David Bowie, CEO, SAS Australia and New Zealand (Treasurer)
• Emily Amos, General Manager-Marketplace, Woolworths
• Steve Coll, Executive Creative Director, Droga5 Australia
• Andy Pontin, CEO, Clemenger BBDO Sydney
• Lucinda Barlow, Head of Marketing, Google Australia and New Zealand
• Chantal Walker, Chief Marketing Officer, Foxtel
• Leigh Terry, CEO-Australia and New Zealand, Omnicom Media Group
• Damian Eales, Group Executive-Marketing, News Corp Australia
• Jason Juma-Ross, Lead Partner-Digital Intelligence, PwC Australia.

The five ADMA state branch chairs, Julie Dormand, MercerBell (NSW); Neil Jorgensen, Signet (Qld); Jason Neave, The Distillery (SA); Craig Wallis, RDI Marketing (VIC), and Tristan Berentzen, Synergy (WA), are moving off the Board to form a new ADMA State Branch Board Advisory Committee.

The Advisory Committee members will define the trends and determine the needs of the industry in relation to data-driven business practice, and provide the Board with new ideas and advice for the future direction of ADMA.