You could, if you wanted to, set your watch to B&T’s Best of the Best. Just in time for upfronts season, we’re taking a look at the media agency investment chiefs who’ll likely be striking the deals with the media’s commercial bosses that we looked at last week.
As ever, we’ve got a handful of notes with this piece. Firstly, we’ve combined holdco and indie agencies. “Investment quality is determined solely by billings!” we hear you cry. And you’d be right, to a point.
This Best of the Best list reflects those that have the largest client billings, but also those that use them the most judiciously and make every cent work as hard as possible for clients.
Indies often have to operate with smaller budgets than the holdcos and, sometimes, their trading leads have to work sellers much harder and operate without the safety net of the holdco arrangements.
Though that isn’t to say anyone who didn’t make the list is hapless. We have to pick 10 and believe us, it’s very, very tough to do so.
This year, Wavemaker’s Philippa Noilea-Tani, PHD’s Joanna Barnes, WPP Media’s Claire Butterworth and Mindshare’s Nik Doble were all very unlucky to miss out on the top 10.
Coming up on B&T’s Best of the Best, we have: Creative Agency Growth Chiefs, Media Agency Growth Chiefs and Creative Agency Strategists.
Nominate your best, now!
Now onto the 10…
10. Sue Cant, head of investment, This Is Flow
Sue Cant is one of the indie leaders eeking every cent out of every dollar at This Is Flow. She joined the indie in April 2024 as its head of investment, following a two-and-a-bit year stint at Affinity. Prior to this, she held senior roles at DentsuX and Carat.
Industry folk told B&T that Cant brings a “rare balance of of client focus and strong publisher relationships” and has been “central” to Flow’s expansion in recent times with her “smart” investment strategies while being a brilliant mentor to the agency’s staff.
Her efforts have not gone unnoticed, with This Is Flow notching several significant innovations in market and helping a number of its clients deliver personal-best years.
9. Paige Wheaton, chief investment officer, Initiative
Paige Wheaton has been Initiative’s investment head honcho for a little over two years, joining from Mindshare where she was the agency’s national head of investment.
While Initiative has been through a significant period of change, Wheaton has ensured that a number of its clients—including big spenders Amazon and LEGO—remained incredibly happy with the work that the agency produced. Since then, Initiative has added Netflix to the client roster. The agency’s efforts in automation have also led to a sharper, more focused team delivering results day-in, day-out for clients.
With Jo McAlister at the helm and Wheaton in the investment driving seat, Initiative is starting to fire back in the market. Of course, there’s still the Omnicom-IPG merger to contend with, but Wheaton remains one of the very best in the market.
8. Marianne Lane, head of investment, Kaimera
Marianne Lane is regarded as one of the sharpest operators in the market and manages a significant amount of client billings.
Lane has worked in media agencies for three decades including OMD, Carat, PHD and, immediately prior to Kaimera, Initiative. At the IPG shop, she was the head of investment partnerships for Rufus, its bespoke agency model for Amazon.
She brings that treasure trove of experience to bear at Kaimera, leading its investment with a people- and relationship-first mindset that allows the agency to punch well above its weight with a balance of science and art that many would do well to hope to replicate.
7. Sarah James, chief investment officer, EssenceMediacom
Sarah James has been EssenceMediacom’s chief investment officer for nearly a year, having spent five-and-a-half as Initiative’s Melbourne MD. In last year’s list, we noted her as one to watch.
Since then, James has helped EssenceMediacom deliver strong results for its clients, including huge spenders such as the Queensland Government, KFC and CommBank. Its RECMA scores have been on a remarkable rise, too, showing the quality behind the scenes that James has helped lead.
6. Lorraine Woods, client investment and trading officer, Atomic 212°
Lorraine Woods has been with Atomic 212° for nearly a decade and became its chief investment and trading officer a little over the year ago.
Regarded as one very sharpest operators in the market, she has played a crucial role in helping Atomic grow and deliver consistent, outsized value for clients in the market.
While Atomic is no longer an indie, having been acquired by Publicis earlier this year, its success for clients saw its achieve knockout scores in RECMA rankings and grew its billings by $35 million adding clients including Bluescope, GWM and BMW and Mini in New Zealand.
Now with some extra Publicis firepower, Woods look set to further cement her position as a true leader in the investment world.
5. Elizabeth Baker, CIO, Zenith
Zenith’s Elizabeth Baker has had one helluva week. On Friday, she won the very hotly contested Media Planner/Buyer Award at B&T’s Women in Media Awards—though to call her a media buyer alone would downplay her skill and impact.
Baker has held senior trading roles for two decades and was promoted to Zenith’s chief investment officer role three years ago. Now, she leads a team of more than 80 buyers and determines the investment of some huge clients, including ALDI, Disney and Adobe, to name but three. In 2024, Baker led her investment team to deliver its 14th consecutive year of verified best-in-marketing trading positions for audited clients by Ebiquity.
But that isn’t all. Baker has also helped launch the ZenAcademy, an initiative to futureproof talent and has mentored two women to become heads of investment. Baker is truly a leader in the sector.
4. Lucy Formosa Morgan, national managing director, MAGNA Global
Lucy Formosa Morgan has more than 20 years of experience both agency and publisher side across Australia and the UK. She’s been MAGNA’s national MD—the investment arm of IPG Mediabrands—for a little over three years and she’s had a significant impact in that role, following 10 years with Omnicom’s PHD.
She leads MAGNA’s negotiations for some of the country’s largest clients, including the Federal and Western Australian Governments, IAG and Target. That IPG’s Initiative and UM hold two government accounts should not be overestimated, it shows their ability to deliver real value for the Australian taxpayer.
Formosa Morgan is also a passionate advocate for all things ESG at MAGNA, something that will increasingly bear fruit with clients in the years to come.
3. Anthony Ellis, chief executive officer, Publicis Media Exchange (PMX)
Anthony Ellis was promoted to CEO of Publicis Media Exchange last year after being its MD for nearly four years and added the Groupe’s Sport & Entertainment division in Australia and New Zealand to his remit. Prior to this, Ellis led trading for Zenith for nearly nearly two decades.
In the year-and-a-bit since, Publicis’ media agencies keep delivering for clients including ALDI, Arnott’s and Toyota, through marketplace innovation and leveraging the scale of the global PMX practice to deliver tailored investment solutions.
Now, with Atomic 212 coming into the Publicis fold, Ellis has even more chips at the table to drive value for clients.
2. Marelle Salib, CIO, Omnicom
Marelle Salib took the reins in Omnicom’s top trading job from last year’s numero uno on B&T’s Best of the Best list—Kristiaan Kroon. Salib had been the investment head at Omnicon’s OMD prior to this.
No one has a bigger set of client dollars in the country than Salib, with OMD alone handling Coles, Macca’s and Suncorp to name but three. In 2024, PHD added more than $160 million in new billings to its roster, winning McCain, Reckit Benckiser and Zurich to the fold.
But Salib also uses her chips smartly, delivering huge results for the likes of Suncorp brand AAMI, for instance. In fact, one person described Salib as a “visionary and strong leader with a touch of class”.
Salib is also the first of two 2025 B&T Women in Media Power List inductees on this list, where she was lauded for her sharp mind, excellent negotiation skills and strong management of media partnerships.
1. Melissa Hey, CIO, WPP Media
The only other media investment boss on the Women in Media Power List was WPP Media’s Melissa Hey, who found herself narrowly missing out on the top 10.
Hey was appointed chief investment officer for WPP Media Australia and New Zealand in early 2023 and has helped see the group grow rapidly with agencies EssenceMediacom, Mindshare and Wavemaker all notching impressive scores in B&T’s Agency Scorecards. EssenceMediacom even too B&T’s Media Agency of the Year title in 2024 from Wavemaker (entries for 2025 close on Friday, by the way!).
In her time at WPP Media, Hey has championed its Responsible Investment Framework to strengthen the role of local media, while also pushing for greater industry collaboration to solve shared challenges. With WPP Media showing no signs of slowing down in Australia, its teams and its clients have a helluva lot to thank Hey for.
