Media agency investment chiefs are some of the most influential figures in adland, responsible for pulling the purse strings of client budgets and deciding in which media channels the money flows.
Their ability to forge strong media partnerships, and drive good deals and efficiencies across investment products and processes can often prove the difference between success and failure, not just for the clients they serve, but also the media owners that court their attention.
Australia is blessed with some of the brightest going around. And, importantly, the gender diversity of the purse string pullers in this market is globally-leading. Long gone are the halcyon days of media trading when men in stuffy suits would thrash out multi-million dollar deals behind closed doors, clouds of cigar smoke and liquid lunches.
In this year’s investment chiefs list, 80 per cent our top 10 list are women. This compares favourably to the UK, where only 30 per cent of women featured on a similar list published by Campaign UK, and none were among the heavy hitters.
In producing this list, B&T considered several factors, including the size of media billings handled, the level of experience in current roles and career, and how active media buyers have been driving the industry forward.
There are some honourable mentions who just fell short of making this year’s list, including Spark Foundry’s, Lucie Jansen and Starcom’s Louise Romeo (who both featured last year), Nunn Media’s Tara Caruana and This is Flow’s Sue Cant.
Sarah James, who joins EssenceMediacom as chief investment officer next month, is also one to watch.
Here are B&T’s Best of the Best media investment chiefs.
10. Paige Wheaton, chief investment officer, Initiative
Long-serving Mindshare investment leader Wheaton joined Initiative at the peak of its powers in July 2023, with the agency earning a scorecard mark of 9. Wheaton has made the chief investment officer role her own.
Her team handles billings for iconic brands including Lego, Pernod Ricard, the WA Government and IAG. At the end of 2023, this amounted to about $452 million in billings, according to COMvergence data, although this may drop this year with the recent departure of Amazon.
It remains to be seen how the departure of Initiative leaders Melissa Fein, Sam Geer and Chris Colter impact the agency’s client book, but Wheaton’s ability to drive value and efficiencies will be even more invaluable as Initiative transitions into a new era.
9. Lorraine Woods, client investment and trading officer, Atomic 212°
A finalist in B&T’s Women in Media 2023, Woods media buying nous earned her a promotion to client investment and trading officer in July as Atomic 212° continues to go from strength to strength.
The agency increased billings by 17 per cent, adding 10 new accounts, including chicken QSR Craveable Brands (Red Rooster, Oporto, Chicken Treat). Woods and her team have been busy cutting media deals for the likes of BMW Group, the NT Government, Entertain and Bupa.
Since starting her career as a TV trader at OMD, Woods has worked in media buying leadership roles at some of Australia’s largest agencies, including Carat and MediaCom but it’s at Atomic 212° where she is truly making her mark.
8. Joanna Barnes, chief investment officer, PHD
Barnes has served in senior investment roles at PHD for nearly 10 years, and was elevated into the chief investment officer hot seat in May.
In her time at PHD, Barnes has worked on accounts including ANZ, Carlton and United Breweries, 7 Eleven, Priceline, Bakers Delight and Porsche.
Since the departure of Melissa Hey to GroupM, Barnes’ influence has grown within the corridors of OMG’s Eveleigh headquarters. At PHD, she presides over media billings north of $605 million at PHD – the fourth largest in Australia, according to COMvergence 2023 data.
This may shrink with recent losses of Unilever, Spotlight Retail Group and Google, but few are more capable of getting the most bang for the buck than PHD’s investment chief. Her influence also extends well beyond PHD, she is a member of the MFA’s Outdoor Futures Council and has been actively training the next generation of media buyers.
7. Elizabeth Baker, chief investment officer, Zenith
A finalist in this year’s B&T Women In Media Awards, Baker has held several senior trading roles for the past two decades, including leading national investment for more than four years at Zenith, and knows the market inside out.
She now presides over a team north of 80 buyers, which could well grow on the back of a bumper year for the ‘ROI-cubed’ agency.
In 2023, Zenith grew media billings by 33 per cent with the addition of Adobe, lululemon, Modibodi, Aldi and others, lifting the total that it handles to $417 million. The agency also scored a B&T Agency Scorecard mark of 9 and a high RECMA quali score, both important industry measures of success. A cornerstone of the agency’s performance has been the wise investment strategies that Baker and her team deliver for clients.
6. Philippa Noilea-Tani, chief investment and operating officer, Wavemaker
Noilea-Tani first joined Wavemaker in 2005 as a media assistant and worked her way up to become group director of investment and activation a decade later.
She was elevated to chief investment officer in October 2021 and just this month has the added string of ‘operations’ to her bow.
Noilea-Tani is widely admired for her ability to balance clients needs and agency processes with a collaborative style of leadership.
At Wavemaker, she oversees media billings of around $748 million, following a strong 2023 in which the agency retained the SA Government account and Mitsubishi. Wavemaker also scored a 9 in its B&T Agency Scorecard and won B&T’s Media Agency of the Year award.
5. Marelle Salib, chief investment officer, OMD
With more than 23 years of industry experience, Salib has been a key member of the OMD investment team for well over a decade.
She leads a team that handles easily the largest volume of media billings in Australia, around $1.3 billion, including budgets for the likes of Coles, Telstra, NSW Government, Victoria Government and McDonald’s.
Salib has led investment on several key clients, developed important processes and products that have rolled out across the agency, and is renowned as one of the top media buyers in the land.
Her elevation to chief investment officer in 2023, becoming a key member of co-CEO Sian Whitnall and Laura Nice’s leadership team, is testament to her value and reputation as a force to be reckoned with in the industry.
4. Anthony Ellis, chief executive officer, Publicis Media Exchange (PMX)
As CEO of the Groupe’s media investment arm in Australia and New Zealand, Ellis is tasked with driving the Groupe’s’ client-centric approach by embracing marketplace innovation and leveraging the scale of the global PMX practice to deliver tailored investment solutions.
In April, he was promoted from managing director to CIO, with a remit that expanded to include Publicis Groupe’s Sport & Entertainment division in Australia and New Zealand.
One of the industry’s most experienced investment chiefs, Ellis has led PMX for the past four years and led trading across Zenith for nearly two decades prior.
In more recent times, Ellis’ PMX team has been kept busy. Publicis Groupe’s media billings grew substantially in 2023 with Zenith and Spark Foundry adding around $130 million to the pot.
3. Lucy Formosa Morgan, national managing director, MAGNA Global
It’s now been more than two years since Formosa Morgan took the helm of IPG Mediabrands investment from Nick Durrant, and the results speak for themselves.
Handling more than $1 billion in media billings, Formosa Morgan’s team have not only grown their share of the pie under her watch, but have used AI and automation technology to improve efficiencies and processes across the buying ecosystem.
Magna Global negotiates media billings for some of Australia’s largest clients, including the Federal Government, Lion, Lego, IAG, Pernod Ricard and the WA Government.
Formosa Morgan cut her teeth in Australia at Omnicom’s PHD, where she was its investment chief for nine years and then national MD.
She is a highly-passionate and respected media buyer, an advocate for positive change in the industry and a B&T Women in Media list alumni.
2. Melissa Hey, chief investment officer, GroupM
Some eyebrows may have been raised when GroupM boss Aimee Buchanan tapped her former OMD colleague Melissa Hey to take the reins of its investment division, but it has proven to be another shrewd signing.
Hey replaced Seb Rennie to head up a media buying machine that handles nearly $2 billion in billings, and is growing with recents successes including Nestle, Unilever, Uber, Google, The Queensland and SA Governments, and more.
Hey has worked in the industry for more than 20 years, including senior investment roles at Starcom and OMD, where she led investment for more than six years. Alongside Buchanan, she helped build OMD into the market leading position it still enjoys today.
At GroupM she leads its Responsible Investment Framework and works closely with the EssenceMediacom, Wavemaker and Mindshare investment teams.
1. Kristiaan Kroon, chief investment officer, Omnicom Media Group
Kroon has defended his spot as Australia’s leading investment chief.
Since joining OMG as its chief investment officer in 2017, Kroon has arguably overseen the most consistent and high-performing media trading division in Australia.
OMG currently handles around $2 billion in media billings for the likes of VW, the NSW and Victorian Governments, McDonald’s, Coles Diageo, Mercedes and HSBC.
The Brit hails from a newspaper background. He cut his teeth in sales and trading roles at News UK and Trinity Mirror Group before ditching Fleet St and arriving on sunnier shores to head up sales and commercial partnerships at Fairfax Media.
He is regarded as not only one of the top investment chiefs going, but a leading commentator at industry events and in the trade press.
Kroon is also actively involved outside of OMG as a board member of UnLtd, and an advisory board member of the Standard Media Index.
