The incoming CEO of UM Australia is Anathea Ruys. She has a 25-year international career in media business leadership and is currently executive vice president and managing director of Carat West Coast and Mid-West USA, as well as the lead of Dentsu’s West Coast office.
“Leading UM Australia to its next chapter requires an executive with rare credentials,” said Mark Coad, CEO of Mediabrands Australia. “Anathea was a stand-out media leader before leaving Australia to pursue her international career. Since then she has become a world-class talent in building collaborative, performance work cultures as well as business and team partnerships. She is the ideal CEO for UM’s future and will be a major contributor to the progress of the Mediabrands Australia group.”
Ruys has been in her Carat and Dentsu roles for the past four years. During that time she led business development resulting in US$300 million in new revenue in her first two years, was responsible for driving alignment and collaboration across multiple specialist teams and fostered a culture focused on integration and partnership that delivered strong client business results.
Prior to her Carat and Dentsu leadership, Ruys was based in Singapore as head of Fuse APAC, an Omnicom Media Group strategy, content and activation division, where she was also a member of the OMG APAC executive committee. She expanded Fuse’s network coverage to an additional four countries, established strong media partnerships across the region and drove revenue and profitability.
Eileen Kiernan, global CEO of UM said, “Anathea is a leader with incredible client focus, a reputation for collaboration and a proven track record of leading a winning culture. It’s the perfect recipe for UM and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome her to our family.”
Ruys was managing director of Mindshare Melbourne from 2012 to 2014, previously managing director of Clemenger Harvie Edge and before that managing director of Spark PR Group.
She commented, “I have long been a great fan of UM Australia. The agency has continually been a benchmark for industry performance, innovation and leadership. I am excited by the opportunity to join this talented team and to partner with the very impressive roster of clients to help drive their business growth.”
Ruys starts work at UM Australia in April and replaces outgoing CEO Fiona Johnston, who has been promoted to an international role as Chief Growth Officer, Mediabrands, Global/EMEA.
