Fairfax Media has appointed Kristiaan Kroon as its new director of commercial development and partnerships for its Australian Publishing Media division.

Reporting to the commercial and marketing services director Tom Armstrong, Kroon will lead a team responsible for commercial partnerships, agency trading relationships and the development of new ad sales business opportunities across all media platforms. He will oversee and strengthen Fairfax’s agency trading business by seeking new commercial opportunities to drive advertiser partnerships and ad revenue growth.

Kroon has more than 14 years’ experience in the media industry and most recently held the position of trading director at the UK’s largest newspaper publisher – Trinity Mirror. He was responsible for a portfolio including the Daily Mirror – with a weekly reach of 28 million people – as well as leading trade negotiations across key agency groups and top advertisers.

Armstrong said: “We are delighted that Kristiaan has joined Fairfax. He brings a wealth of experience from his UK publishing background. This role will help us build stronger relationships with our agency partners and find new directions for ad sales growth.”

Kroon said: “It’s great to be joining Fairfax at such an exciting time in the company’s development. Fairfax’s transformation is very similar to what I have experienced with Trinity Mirror and I am joining a top level team to help grow advertising revenue across platforms.”

Kroon takes up his new role from 23 March 2015.