John Sintras, one of the media and marketing industry’s most high-profile global executives, has taken on the CEO role at independent, Sydney-based digital transformation consultancy Yango Group.

Sintras joins Yango’s co-founders Ben Holmes, Nick Murdoch and Luke Povee, and will lead the charge to grow clients’ businesses by leveraging change and technology, offering a range of consulting services and digital products.

“This move, and this business, is about challenging the status quo to create growth. For me, having skin in the game with the opportunity to challenge legacy thinking and design next-practice solutions is incredibly exciting. Digital transformation is complicated and relentless and many organisations are looking for help with customised, independent advice and solutions,” Sintras said.

“We can help solve business and marketing problems, identify new growth opportunities, and design technology, brand, customer and media solutions. Central to our work is simplifying the world of data and martech for clients while leveraging deep human understanding to meaningfully connect with customers, staff and stakeholders,” he said.

Yango launched as a start-up in 2013 and now has offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland with around 40 staff. Its proprietary AI technology platform Rubii allows for the automation of digital media planning, buying, tracking and optimisation of campaigns across all digital channels and programmatic media-buying platforms in real time.

Holmes added: “We’ve been on a fantastic growth trajectory to date and now is the time to hit the turbo button. John brings unmatched experience and, more importantly, vision and extraordinary thinking around disruption and innovation to the business and to our clients.”

Sintras, who has been inducted into the Media Federation of Australia’s Hall of Fame, most recently worked at SBS as chief audience and content officer after returning from New York where he was IPG Mediabrands president, global business development and product innovation.

Before heading to New York, he spent more than 20 years at Starcom Media Group where he was chairman, SMG Australia and director, global experience product and strategy. In this latter role, he was responsible for inspiring more than 7,000 global employees and assessing and driving the continued development of the network’s global product and innovation approaches.