Media partner MiQ has announced what has been described as a “new-look commercial leadership team” in a suite of promotions and hires.
Promotions include MiQ group account director, Paul Bates to general manager – sales for Victoria and South Australia, while Hannah Cooper returns from parental leave into the newly created role of general manager – sales for NSW, Queensland and New Zealand.
Bates and Cooper bring a combined 40 years’ experience to their new roles, including leadership positions at some of Australia’s biggest media organisations.
Bates joined MiQ as group account director in August last year, after a 25-year sales and marketing career that spanned senior roles at Broadsheet Media, Cartology, REA Group, Yahoo7, Fairfax and Pacific Magazines.
Cooper has been with MiQ since 2020, when she was appointed as director of advanced TV, Australia and holding groups, NSW. Since then, she has been promoted to commercial lead and global agency director, APAC. Prior to joining MiQ, Cooper spent four years in senior sales roles at Quantcast, as well as Yahoo7, Seven West Media and Maxus.
Cooper and Bates will now join MiQ’s leadership team, alongside current group account director, Madison Wappett, who has been promoted to national commercial strategist.
Wappett is a career commercial leader with significant experience in ad tech, media owner sales, data analysis and digital activation. He joined MiQ in February 2020 as Queensland sales director, following a 10-year media career that included leadership roles at Dentsu and Canada’s largest news brand, Postmedia.
The new-look leadership team also includes group account director – Western Australia and South Australia, Trent McKeown, and key account director, Darren Perreira. All roles report to CRO, Chris Freel, who joined MiQ in May last year.
“I’m incredibly proud of the team we have built over the past few months. Paul, Hannah and Madison bring nearly five decades of leadership and digital experience to their new roles, with significant expertise across sales and advertising technology. All three of them have deep market respect and strong commercial acumen, creating a powerful foundation for continued growth. Their combined expertise and leadership experience give me great confidence in our ability to execute, innovate and deliver long-term value for our clients,” Freel said.
“It takes work to find the right team, but I’m confident we’ve now got the dynamic and the capacity to take the business into this next growth phase. Our focus now is on bringing together our combined expertise as we prepare for an exciting few months ahead.”
As part of the new commercial team, four new Group Account Director roles have been created across MiQ’s Australian eastern seaboard operations. MiQ senior sales manager, Mia Marasco, steps into the new role in Victoria, while MiQ sales manager, Claire O’Donel, will fill the role in Queensland. Former JCDecaux and Hivestack by Perion sales manager, Erin Koedam, and former Lotame director of agency sales, Kirsten Newbury, join the business in the NSW group account director roles.
“All of these appointments are a critical part of our growth ambitions, as we prepare to expand our offering with another industry-first planning tool,” MiQ Australia and New Zealand managing director, Fiona Roberts, said.
“Backed by Chris’ unparalleled commercial media experience, we now have a team that brings together all the attributes we need to dominate – leadership, passion, talent and a demonstrated ability to deliver. We are now in the right place to drive further revenue growth and deliver client outcomes.”
All appointments are effective immediately.
