Initiative Sydney managing director Marcelle Gomez has announced three new leadership positions and appointed executives from diverse backgrounds to help lead the agency as part of Initiative Australia’s overall transformation.
Gomez’s appointments for the Sydney agency are the head of digital, head of partnerships and a new group director as part of an expanded client leadership structure.
“Bringing high calibre experience into the agency is a top priority for us in Sydney and in Australia,” said Gomez. “We have been very selective in terms of choosing talented leadership for our clients’ benefit and for the agency teams as we work towards a unique positioning in the market.”
Former Nine Entertainment Company digital lead Andrew Cambridge has joined as head of digital, Sydney. He brings expansive commercial, digital and leadership experience to partner with the agency’s strategy, creative, activation and investment leads in the development of unique communications platforms for clients.
Ian Smith has been appointed head of partnerships, Sydney. He will take charge of all the agency’s partnership portfolios including investment, content, activations and sport. Smith has a 16-year career and significant accomplishments with skills in commercial strategies and negotiations, dynamic and programmatic trading, sports rights negotiations and the development of broadcast and digital partnerships. He has experience working for Networks Nine and Ten and prior to his new role he was commercial director at Ensemble.
Nick Wokes joins Initiative Sydney as a new client group director. He has more than 13 years media experience with Mediacom, Match and Drifter in Sydney and with Zenith in New York, where he led media strategy for major corporates including IKEA, Maserati, Toshiba and JP Morgan Chase. He becomes the third group director at Initiative Sydney alongside Damien Terakes and Robbie Aoukar.
Cambridge, Smith and Wokes’ appointments complete the Initiative Sydney management team reporting to Gomez, which also includes communications design director John Dawson. Initiative Australia, which also has offices in Melbourne and Perth, is currently finalising a new positioning in the market under new national CEO Melissa Fein.
