Nine has promoted Chris Nardi (featured image) to lead its publishing sales team, taking over responsibility for print and digital sales for major titles including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review.

The appointment follows today’s announcement that Matt Rowley is moving to Pedestrian Group as its new CEO.

Rowley’s tenure oversaw a turn-around in publishing’s fortunes with the division achieving revenue growth.

Nardi is a publishing specialist who takes the role of director of sales – publishing after 18 months of leading the business and government vertical for Nine’s major mastheads.

Prior to this, he was global advertising director, luxury and consumer, and head of weekend and B2C publishing for the Financial Times.

Nine’s chief sales officer, Michael Stephenson said: “The appointment of Chris to lead our publishing sales team demonstrates the depth of talent that we have at Nine.

“Chris will play a critical role in our team as we continue to focus on creating marketing platforms for brands across Nine’s unique set of assets.

“His experience in Australia and abroad will be invaluable as we continue to work more closely with our partners to unlock the power of our audiences in innovative ways in print and across our digital ecosystem.”

Nardi will build on momentum from the development of a vertical structure focused on key categories such as travel, finance, retail, technology, education and employment, by launching an agency team focused on major buying groups and independent agencies aligned with Nine’s television and digital teams.

Stephenson added: “Chris takes the reins from Matt Rowley, who has done a brilliant job in creating industry specialism and expertise within our publishing team.

“Our sales transformation is now complete with the addition of our agency-aligned teams in publishing who will be working alongside our TV and digital teams and with Powered to create big ideas for our partners, and deliver more value and scale than any other media partner.”