Meet The Women Leading Tech Sales Finalists

Last week we shared all of our Women Leading Tech product finalists – those who work on the technical side to help turn ideas into realities. Now it’s all about the commercial side. Introducing our Women Leading Tech sales finalists.

Playground XYZ Account Director Annie Lemaire Brooks

Coming into Playground XYZ, account director Annie Lemaire quickly realised she needed to spread the word about the business’s technology. Her first challenge was to work with Omnicom group on creating programmatic solutions for mobile. This resulted in the creation of developed the first gamified mobile ad (McDonald’s), API live odds feeds (TAB), financial calculator tools (HSBC), introduced dynamic store mapping and countdowns & weather feeds for various clients. Alongside this work, Lemaire managed to secure 36 new clients in 2019, including Unilever, Suncorp and Hyundai.

She has also had the responsibility of being Playground XYZ’s first mother to be. This led to her initiating discussions with the company’s founders about creating a competitive Paternity policy for future parents – something which rolled out in 2020.

Quantcast agency lead Melbourne Brooke McGregor

As Quantcast’s agency lead, Brooke McGregor has helped deliver the company new business to the tune of 24 new client wins in the second half of 2019. Her success with clients can be attributed to her ongoing analysis of the agency landscape in Australia to identify new business leads based on client movements, and proactively approaching prospective new customers with proposals, recommendations and examples of Quantcast’s offering.

Beyond this, McGregor also developed a new reporting process for Quantcast, to make it easier and more seamless for clients to work with the company by eliminating booking oversights and
duplications through improved inter-agency comms. She also spent 2019 working with relief charities to pack and organise donations for communities impacted by fires, as well as a
WhiteLion lock-in, at which McGregor and the and VIC Sales Director raised over $2k for the
charity.

Verizon Media Senior Platform Sales Lead Kristine Celona

Working against the backdrop of declining digital ad spend, Verizon Media’s senior platform sales lead Kristine Celona managed to bring on 40 new advertisers across the platform, including the likes of Audi, Chivas Regal, Nandos, Jeep, Subaru, Peugeot, Samsung and Honda. This included winning Verizon Media’s first-ever DOOH campaign. Celona also managed to secure Verizon Media as Publicis’ official native partner and grew two major agency trading desks to be the biggest DSP spenders in Q1 and Q2.

As well as helping the company secure new business, she has also achieved recognition within Verizon Media. She was awarded the Verizon Media Champion Award in September 2019 and the following month was promoted to Platforms Sales Lead.

PubMatic Director Ad Solutions APAC Natasha De Mallet Hawes

In 2019 PubMatic pivoted from focusing solely on publisher yield to delivering advertiser ROI. Heading up PubMatic’s Ad Solutions team across APAC, Natasha De Mallet Hawes was able to use her knowledge and industry experience to help change the business’s mindset. De Mallet Hawes recognised the need to invest in buyside relationships, create bespoke solutions and invest in buyside tools across the ANZ and the APAC region. Under her direction, the APAC business built closer working relationships with agencies, gaining insight into their business challenges and needs.

With her guidance, PubMatic was able to strike deals with OMG ANZ, GroupM APAC, DAN APAC, Havas APAC and IPG AU in 2019. PubMatic was named as a preferred partner for Amobee APAC, after De Mallet Hawes drove a successful RFI.

Network 10 Director of Digital Sales Sophie Hicks Lloyd

2019 was a big year of organisational change at Network 10, with the company bringing the sales team back in-house. In June 2019, Sophie Hicks Lloyd was appointed to the position of digital sales director for Network 10
responsible for driving digital revenue across 10’s suite of digital brands and platforms. From her time in the role, 10’s National Digital Sales targets have been consistently exceeded across BVOD, Display and Audio sales. She also hired an additional 14 people to build on the sales effort.

As well as her day-to-day responsibilities, Hicks Lloyd currently represents Network 10 at ThinkTV meetings, working collaboratively with her peers at 7, 9, SBS and Foxtel Media to shape the success of the FTA landscape. She has also significantly contributed to the wider community, participating in in five CanToo programs where
she has trained for endurance events while raising money for cancer research since 2016.

The Trade Desk Senior Director, Business Development ANZ Stephanie Famolaro

As The Trade Desk’s senior director, business development ANZ, Stephanie Famolaro has been the champion for API technology at The Trade Desk and has emerged as a leader in this important and emerging technology field. She has created a blueprint which helps agency and brand partners understand how they can incorporate technology and API’s into their businesses.

She has also taken a public leadership position, addressing industry conferences, leading internal all staff (1000+) meetings and participating in media interviews to build and awareness and understanding of APIs and the impact of technology on the marketing profession. Famolaro is also an active mentor, supporting others across the company to understand the importance of API to The Trade Desk’s business.