Independent Sydney creative agency Core has appointed its first managing director, promoting experienced advertising executive Jane Callister (pictured above between Jon Skinner and Christian Finucane) to the newly created role.

It comes as the agency continues to attract new business with Australia’s largest union, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, selecting the agency to manage its campaign creative work.

Callister has amassed a wealth of experience working for some of the country’s most iconic agencies during her 20-year career. She joined Core as business director in late 2014 and will now lead the day to day operations, business development and client management as managing director as it continues to experience growth.

Before joining Core Callister held senior leadership positions at M&C Saatchi, Whybin\TBWA, DDB, The Campaign Palace, Grey, JWT and George Patterson Bates in both Sydney and Melbourne, working with clients including IAG, Kellogg’s, ANZ,  George Weston Foods, Simplot and TAC.

Christian Finucane, creative partner at Core said, “Since joining Core, Jane has used her considerable industry experience to help guide the agency as we’ve grown. The past 12 months have been exceptional for us in terms of new business and creative work that is delivering impressive returns for our clients.

“So the the time is right for us to put in place a managing director to help us navigate Core’s next chapter as we continue to scale. Fortunately for us we didn’t have to look far to find the right talent to help make that happen.”

“Having worked for big network agencies for most of my career it’s great to be be working with an independent on the up and up. The Core team are an outstanding group and I’m looking forward to guiding the agency alongside the creative partners, Christian Finucane and Jon Skinner.”

In addition to naming its first managing director, Core has won the creative work for the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation following a pitch involving three agencies. The union, which represents registered nurses, enrolled nurses, midwives, and assistants in nursing, is the largest in the country with over 249,000 members.

Core will initially develop a new campaign highlighting aged care issues to drive action in the community and increase membership.

Lee Thomas, political director at ANMF said, “We are excited to be entering into this partnership with Core. They have demonstrated a passion to promote the great work and values of our members.”

Speaking of the win, Jon Skinner added: “The ANMF represent a group of amazing people that are critical to ensuring the health and wellbeing of all Australians at some point in their lives. We’re looking forward to help them raise awareness of the issues confronting their members, as well as attracting new people working in the industry to join them.”

Other Core clients include QBE Australia, Sydney Airport, RSVP, Victa and The Fred Hollows Foundation.