Often working behind the scenes, these business support guns are the industry’s unsung heroes who keep execs in check, projects on track and offices running like clockwork. From juggling packed schedules and managing complex logistics to fostering culture, their magic is felt across every corner of the business and keeps the cogs turning.
Despite often receiving a lack of fanfare, the business support role is anything but modest. Now, you’ll notice that there are no men on this list. This does not reflect a belief at B&T that these kinds of roles are only for women—far from it. This list of 10 reflects the people who are the Best of the Best at supporting the staff in businesses across the industry. In fact, in our wide-ranging liaising with the industry on this list, no men came up.
It’s no secret that these lists aren’t easy to put together as there are always a lot of extremely worthy candidates. But unfortunately there are only 10 spots.
So, we wanted to give a shoutout to the unsung heroes who narrowly missed the list: BMF’s Gemma Banning, EssenceMediacom’s Lisa Euvrard, Havas’ Selina Govind, Howatson+Company ‘s Ashleigh Collett, Initiatives Olivia Archer-Deakin, M+C Saatchi’s Sarah Ford, Mindshare’s Sue Franklin and Mary Murphy, Paramount and Network 10’s Sarah Clark, oOh!media’s Antoinette McIntosh, Thinkerbell’s Alex McNamara, WPP’s Lucy Bardakjian and WPP Media’s Amanda Curr.
Without further a do lets dive into the heart and soul of media, marketing and advertising who deserve to take centre stage. If you’re waiting eagerly for our Spin Doctors Best of the Best list, you’ll need to wait another day.
10. Aysha Faleali’i, executive assistant of technology and finance, Paramount Australia
Since March 2025, Aysha Faleali’i has been an invaluable asset to the Technology and Finance Departments at Paramount Australia, supporting the SVP of technology services and operations Australia and Network 10, and the VP of finance, as well as the larger team. She provides high-level executive support across scheduling, inbox and local and global stakeholder management, travel coordination, and day-to-day operations while bringing perspective, warmth and humour.
Despite her short tenure, Faleali’i has been trusted to support the most senior of execs within the business and was a dab hand helping out with Paramount’s 2026 presentation and Big Brother event launch. She has also led the onboarding of new executive assistants across the business, sharing processes and helping them settle in quickly. The support she gives to the Tech and Finance Teams ensures the success of the network, whether its content distribution or forecasting performance, facilitating the rest of the business to focus on storytelling or even the occasional morale-boosting batch of baked goods to the office.
9. Sarah Carpenter, executive assistant to CEO and chief creative officer, Publicis Groupe ANZ
Sarah Carpenter joined the Publicis Groupe in 2024 as the EA to Publicis Groupe ANZ CEO, Michael Rebelo, and chief creative officer, Dave Bowman. She brought with her more than 20 years of experience in executive assistant roles across several businesses in the media and marketing industry, and in television production and advertising. These roles include executive assistant at ITV Studios Australia, team assistant at Foxtel, marketing and HR manager at Channelzero and HR management and executive support for the Board of Directors at BMF.
Carpenter places a high level of importance on building strong relationships with both internal and external stakeholders by remaining kind, approachable and always willing to go beyond the everyday. She is also responsible for event management and project management as part of her role, all whilst juggling incredibly busy executives and three teenage children at home.
8. Niamh Ryan, executive assistant to client growth and experience, News Australia
Niamh Ryan is an absolute superstar supporting two senior leaders within News Australia’s Client Growth and Experience Division. Operating in a fast-paced, commercially driven environment, she provides seamless executive support including complex diary and travel management, meeting prioritisation, preparation of documentation and coordination of key internal and external engagements.
Beyond traditional EA responsibilities, Ryan plays a critical operational role across the broader Client Partnerships Team at News. She supports the planning of team events, manages financial approvals, purchase orders and invoices against budgets, and ensures smooth day-to-day operations through her proactive, detail-oriented approach.
She is highly trusted by senior leaders and respected across the business, thanks to her consistently bringing calm, structure and sound judgement to high-pressure situations. It’s this professionalism, discretion, grit and people-first mindset that enable leaders and teams to perform at their firing on all cylinders best.
7. Madelaine Zahr, executive assistant to ANZ managing director, Pinterest
As the executive assistant to the managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Zahr is responsible for managing projects related to the team, workplace operations, business initiatives and social events. She also serves as the local site lead and does it all with a huge dose of creativity and a big smile. Outside her assistant duties, she oversees new hire onboarding, champions company culture all whilst handling a wide array of responsibilities in between.
She has more than 13 years of experience across Kookai, LinkedIn and Pinterest. Her role began at Pinterest Australia in November 2019 as its ninth employee. She was among the final cohort of new hires to travel to San Francisco for in-person onboarding before COVID. During this time she has supported and scaled the business’ growth from nine to more than 70 employees.
In addition to her role she represents her employer and serves as a spokesperson for the team. She assists in brainstorming innovative ideas and ensures the necessary resources are in place to implement them. Away from her day-to-day operations she is deeply passionate about helping visionaries stay organised, prioritise effectively and reduce stress, allowing them to bring their ideas to life seamlessly.
6. Edwina Gilbert, executive assistant and office manager, Bullfrog
Known as the heart and soul of Bullfrog, Edwina Gilbert has been with the creative agency for the past two years looking. She has long supported the industry, working for the likes of Esther Clerehan, as well as being part of the MADC council and the Aunties founding team. In her current role at Bullfrog she’s helped support the business through big changes of all shapes and sizes, good and bad, including help guide it to winning Independent Agency with Fewer Than 50 Employees and Victorian Agency of the Year at the 2024 B&T Awards.
Gilbert has deep compassion about everyone who walks through the agency’s doors. But more importantly the “Pond Mother” is always the first to ask if someone is okay as well as prioritising everyone’s wellbeing in the office. She’s the cultural beating heart of Bullfrog and seen as one of the biggest cheerleaders of the industry. Making her a worthy member of the best business support executives.
5. Olivia Diamond, product management chief of staff, Canva
Olivia Diamond is an absolute superstar who in her role at the design giant is involved in diversity-focused hiring initiatives, implementing defined hiring goals and recruitment strategies that lead to meaningful improvements. Her output and results are remarkable with the percentage of women in product management increasing from 39 per cent in April to 44 per cent by October 2024.
She also lead the Canva’s Women in Design Experience (DE) Events & Community Building initiative. As part of this, she oversaw the planning and execution of over five Women in Tech events across multiple cities, creating safe spaces for mentorship, networking and professional growth as well as fostering a stronger sense of belonging for women in tech.
Diamond moved to Australia in February of 2018 with a background in experiential marketing gained from San Francisco. She now possesses almost five years of experience keeping Canva’s staff on track and in check.
She has had a mammoth year taking home the Business Support trophy at B&T’s 2025 Women Leading Tech Awards for her contributions in tech, diversity and women’s empowerment..
4. Tierney Seeto, Sydney office manager and national workplace experience manager, Southern Cross Austereo
Tierney Seeto’s invaluable to Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) and the broader radio and media industry.
She built and rolled out the LiSTNR podcast studios, where she managed timelines, stakeholder input and delivery to ensure long-term usability. She absolutely smashed the project, leading to her recently being promoted to office manager, Sydney and national workplace experience manager.
In this expanded role she works closer with the P&C team and drives national projects to enhance the SCA employee experience across all offices. This includes the National SCA Embrace Charity Program, Masterclasses, Employee Benefits and the national Diversity and Inclusion programs.
She is a self-motivated and dynamic professional with a proven track record of optimising operations, improving ways of working and driving initiatives aligned with organisational goals. She is skilled in building strong stakeholder relationships, project management and large scale event coordination.
3. Kelly Taylor, executive assistant, OMD
Kelly Taylor has led the business support team at Australia’s largest media agency for the past four years and has transformed the function as the team has shifted and grown over that time.
Taylor was described to B&T as “invaluable” to the agency’s operations with its clients, people and partners. She has established events that have become fan favourites in the OMD calendar from sports days to partner trivia, both critical for staff engagement. Taylor has been critical in OMD’s pivoting from its previous ‘+’ positioning to its current ‘we create what’s next’ industry overture. To land this, Taylor led the execution of three immersive days across Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne on the tightest brief and timeline. She managed it by leveraging her network, deep connections and intutive understanding of the people and the business. It’s little wonder one member of Omnicom’s top brass described working alongside Taylor as a “privilege”.
2. Rachel Green, executive assistant to CEO, Hoyts Group
Considered “the brains behind the HOYTS Group executive leadership team”, Rachel Green has had an exceptional 17-year tenure supporting HOYTS Group CEO Damian Keogh. Due to her exceptional talents her role extends far beyond a traditional executive assistant, as she also and manages operations for a team of 200 within the Australia and New Zealand company.
Outside her EA traditional role, she is also a dedicated mentor, guiding emerging talent and fostering professional growth within the industry. In her free time she loves to give back, raising awareness for endometriosis and serving as an internal ambassador for the RSPCA, all whilst hosting industry networking events.
Green took home the Business Support category at 2024’s B&T Women In Media Awards, and is no doubt one of the best in the business.
1. Hannah Mansur, chief of staff (leadership operations) for the content and discovery supergroup, Canva
Hannah Mansur is the epitome of a business support legend, who boats the safest pair of hands to make things happen fast and seamlessly. She’s a consultant by training, and has led high performing, multidisciplinary teams to create revenue generating products and services across both media and marketing.
She recently worked as the chief of staff for Mamamia where she was the driving force behind initiatives that elevated the business and the women who power it. She worked across content, commercial and product and transformed behind-the-scenes leadership into tangible impact. Mansur recently took her exceptional management skills to Canva, where she leverages her skills in business operations, stakeholder management and strategic communications and partnerships. Mansur caps off an incredible 2025 with not only a B&T Women In Media Business Support award, but also the top spot on this highly competitive list.
