GroupM’s chief investment officer, Danny Bass, has been appointed chief executive officer of IPG Mediabrands Australia.
The announcement was made by the Group’s Global CEO of IPG Mediabrands Henry Tajer, who said Bass was offered the CEO position after a search across international markets and the Australian industry.
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Bass will start work at IPG Mediabrands at a date to be confirmed and at that time Tajer will become chairman of the Australia operations. Joining Tajer and Bass at the group level is Reg Davidson, who last week was named chief operating officer of IPG IPG Mediabrands Australia.
“Danny Bass became a clear choice as the ideal leader for the 600 plus people who work in the Australia group, our skill sets, client relationships and valuable external partnerships,” said Tajer. “He is a future-facing, highly effective leader who is a perfect fit for the way we progress as a business and work as a national team.”
Bass is currently chief investment and intelligence officer for GroupM Australia. Prior to that he was GroupM’s chief digital officer and was previously national sales director for News Digital Media.
“Both internationally and in this market IPG Mediabrands Australia is known as a top-class and highly effective group with very impressive integrated communications capabilities,” said Bass. “Henry, Reg and the Board of Directors have built a very powerful resource for their clients and it is nothing short of an honour to be asked to lead the Group. It’s an amazing challenge and I am looking forward to it enormously.”
When he starts work at IPG Mediabrands Bass will report directly to Tajer, who said, “The Australian business is the second largest and most innovative group in the IPG Mediabrands worldwide network, so retaining close and constant contact with Danny and developments in Australia will be a top priority for me.”
Tajer added: “At a personal level, I have long admired and respected Danny’s work as a competitor. Through our industry contact over time and more recently discussing the IPG Mediabrands opportunity, I know Danny to be a thoroughly decent person. It is a huge coup for us that he’s accepted the position and I am looking forward to having him on board,” said Tajer.
