Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) CEO, Grant Blackley, has announced the promotion of Nikki Clarkson to chief marketing and communications officer and she will also join the SCA executive leadership team.

Clarkson’s appointment is the first in a newly expanded leadership team at SCA, with Blackley confirming that the new roles of chief people and culture officer and chief content officer would also join the leadership team once appointments were made.

Clarkson is currently head of marketing and communications and her new title of chief marketing and communications officer is effective from 1st January 2020.

“Nikki has made an enormous contribution to the company and is truly deserving of this promotion. I have had the privilege of mentoring Nikki over the last few years – and I have seen her grow both professionally and personally,” Blackley said.

“We are acutely aware that Nikki’s role is no longer purely radio marketing – it encompasses linear (FM, DAB+ and TV), on-demand (Podcasting and Digital), corporate marketing and, most recently, group corporate communications. Nikki is a talented, passionate and committed executive and we know she will be a wonderful addition to the leadership team.”

Commenting on her new role, Clarkson said: “I do feel privileged to work with such a premium brand portfolio and the biggest radio brands in the country to create a truly national strategy. SCA has an incredible depth of creativity and talent and as a diverse media company, it’s a great opportunity as a marketer to work across the entire business, including PodcastOne, our DAB stations and our other new digital audio products. I’m looking forward to joining the leadership team as marketing continues to play an integral role in SCA’s success.”

Clarkson joined SCA almost 12 years ago as the company’s marketing head and this year added corporate communications responsibilities to her role, managing the corporate and trade communications team.