Chris Freel is leaving oOh!Media to join the programmatic business MiQ as chief revenue officer in June.
Freel will be responsible for driving revenue growth and maximising profitability across all revenue generating functions of the business, as well as taking ownership of MiQ’s trade marketing efforts in ANZ.
Freelo, as he is known in the industry, has worked as oOh!Media for just over a year as is currently group sales director. He brings more than 20 years of experience and has held leadership roles at Fairfax Media, Pandora and UnLtd, the industry charity that helps grassroots charities working with children and young people at risk.
Freel also founded the successful Big Clash annual media industry charity cricket event that has raised more than $1.5 million for youth disadvantage causes in collaboration with UnLtd and more than $30,000 for Breast Cancer Australia over the past 11 years. At this year’s Big Clash, the Media side (captained by Freel) lost to Team Tech, although there is no suggestion the gut-wrenching defeat influenced his decision.
Freel will report to MiQ Australia and New Zealand managing director Fiona Roberts, who worked with him at Fairfax and Pandora.
“I know the impact he has on the people around him, and I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather partner with on growing the ANZ business for the future,” she said. “We have incredible talent at MiQ and bringing Chris on board supports the development of that talent, along with the attraction of high performers in the industry as we continue that growth trajectory.”
MiQ APAC CEO Jason Scott added that Freel’s strong background in media sales and business growth, and his inclusive and inspiring leadership style made him an obvious choice to become MiQ’s inaugural chief revenue officer in the region.
‘An exciting time’
Freel told B&T that he had no plans to leave oOh!Media and that after a “tough slog” in 2024, the business was now “flying” and looking good for the year ahead.
“This completely came out of the blue a few weeks ago. I wasn’t looking to move and I will be sad to leave oOh!Media,” he said.
“But MiQ has really strong ambitions, they’re looking to double their revenue in the next two years and really ramp things up and it’s an exciting time for the business.
“They’ve been in Australia for around 6-7 years, with 70 people now, and are at that phase of scale up which is my sweet spot. I enjoyed that at Pandora and UnLtd, albeit in a different way. The opportunity to be part of accelerating that growth is massively appealing.”
Freel will serve out a three month notice period before leaving oOh!Media.
Mark Fairhurst, oOh!media’s acting chief revenue officer, said: “Anyone who knows Chris (which let’s face it – is basically the entire media industry) knows he’s endlessly committed to his team. He is an exceptional leader who always puts people first and champions personal growth. We at oOh! are sad to see him go and wish him all the very best for this new role.”
