New business is the beating heart of agency life, but these days, growth doesn’t always come with a chief growth officer title attached to it.
As agency structures evolve, leadership teams become leaner and new business responsibilities spread across the business, the people leading the charge can sit across a range of roles. Some agencies have dedicated growth chiefs, while others rely on agency leaders to hustle their way through the new business merry-go-round.
For this year’s B&T Best of the Best media agency growth chiefs, we’ve taken that into account. The list recognises the senior executives who have made the biggest impact on the new business front across Australia and New Zealand, excluding CEOs who have already featured in our media agency bosses Best of the Best lists. As such, you won’t see Zenith’s new business “machine” and CEO Jason Tonelli in this list.
Compiling the list is never an easy task. Pitch wins only tell part of the story, so we’ve considered the size and significance of accounts won, retained and expanded, as well as the impact those wins have had on the agencies behind them. After all, landing a big-name client is one thing, but landing an account that can genuinely shift the trajectory of an agency is another.
We’ve also leaned on industry intel, client wins and retentions, reputable sources including RECMA and COMvergence, and, of course, our trusty survey nominations.
As with any Best of the Best list, there are plenty of strong contenders who could have made the cut. These are Nunn Media’s founder Matt Nunn, Renee Ashby from OMD, Yango’s Amy Carr, Peter Horgan from Joy, Today The Brave’s Jaqcuie Capel, Kim Raicevich from This Is Flow, Samantha Smith from Initiative and Richard Clarke from Havas Media.
But after doing the groundwork, kicking the tyres and weighing up the new business credentials of some of the industry’s biggest growth drivers, we reckon these are the executives who have made the biggest splash.
So, with titles, agency structures and growth models all looking a little different, here are the people who have been making the biggest moves in media agency new business.
10. Lucinda Kingham, marketing and growth director, WPP Media ANZ
When Lucinda Kingham joined WPP Media as marketing and growth director in February 2026, it marked her first dedicated growth role. Having previously lead marketing at Mindshare UK, she brought a fresh perspective to agency growth. Despite her short tenure in the market, she’s very much one to watch based on her track record already.
Just seven months later, Kingham has established herself as an effective growth leader, helping drive a period of significant commercial and reputational momentum for EssenceMediacom, and WPP Media.
Since joining the team led by Nathan Young, she has been at the centre of EssenceMediacom’s growth success, helping the agency brand secure and retain more than $200 million in client billings. This includes the successful retention of Uber APAC following a highly competitive regional review. Despite Uber partnering with Omnicom globally, EssenceMediacom successfully retained the APAC business.
She led the coordination of the pitch process across Uber’s three largest APAC markets, Australia, Japan and India, while working closely with an additional four markets in the region, bringing together multiple stakeholders, ensuring alignment across responses, and managing a complex multi-market review process.
Kingham also led the winning Michael Hill pitch.
What makes Lucinda’s achievement particularly noteworthy is not simply what she has delivered, but how quickly she has delivered it. Transitioning into a growth leadership role for the first time, she has rapidly become a trusted advisor to senior leaders, a driving force behind the agency’s market profile and a key contributor to its commercial success.
9. Adrian Roeling, managing partner and chief operating officer, Hatched Media
Winning business is hard enough as it is. Let alone for indies who have to compete with the holdcos. That’s why the rise that Hatched has had over the past 18 months can not be ignored.
The man largely responsible for this is managing partner and chief operating officer Adrian Roeling, who works alongside CEO Stephen Fisher, to reel in wins.
Roeling all more commonly known as “AR” is an entrepreneur who started is own agency in uni and has since managed global digital marketing programs and national media agencies. He now provides strategic advice to Hatchlings and clients. He’s been doing so since 2019.
Over the course of the 2025 calendar year, the indie picked up 18 accounts including Key Pharmaceuticals, Australian Pacific Touring, Yellow Tail, Chobani & Gippsland Dairy and MCoBeauty.
According to the agency, media billings grew 39 per throughout 2025, with digital billings up 42 per cent. Hatched outlined that the major shift for the agency was resetting its ideal client profile, shifting from $3–10 million clients to partners booking between $10–20 million.
In 2026, Hatched is still after a big fish but it has added Crime Stoppers Australia to its client portfolio.
Each of the wins across the past 18 months have been spread across different categories. Each of these required a different pitch story, a different commercial model and even in Crimestoppers’ case, a different standard of governance and rigour altogether.
8. Will Chapman, managing partner and chief growth officer, Avenue C
Also flying the indie flag is Avenue C’s Will Chapman.
Chapman brings extensive experience across marketing, media and technology, with a commercially driven, results-oriented approach to helping brands navigate the evolving media landscape.
Having most recently led the Client Advice and Management discipline at Ansible Australia, he specialises in working with challenger brands, developing tailored media solutions that align with unique business needs and growth ambitions.
Over the past 12 months, he has continued to grow Avenue C’s billings, securing new business from Viva Leisure, Dream Home Art Union, Mable, Maurice Blackburn and Betashares. This has seen the agency’s billings grow by a healthy amount.
For Chapman and the team, this growth has been deliberate and built to last. There has also been a strong focus on organic growth with existing clients, as Avenue C’s model of experience continues to work in tandem with brands, ensuring the value of media within the broader business is understood and invested in.
7. Sarah McGeechan, director of brand, Atomic 212°
Sarah McGeechan has been the engine behind Atomic 212°’s standout performance in new business.
In 2025, Atomic became the country’s most successful pitching agency according to a report by TrinityP3, converting 31 new business wins and winning Tennis Australia, Vicinity Centres and The Magnum Ice Cream Company. McGeechan led the charge across these pitches.
In 2026 Atomic continued in its winning ways. Across the year it has extended NT Government, and picked up CPA Australia and Origin Energy.
According to her colleagues she “has juggled pitch volume that would break most teams”, and made sure every Atomic pitch landed with clarity, confidence and craft.
As director of brand, McGeechan has contributed to define what Atomic stands for in the new context of Publicis Groupe, ensuring the agency continues to shine through its product, point of view and client partnerships rather than getting absorbed into the network.
6. Edelle Gettings, head of brand, PHD
Edelle Gettings has made new business her speciality, combining strategic thinking and creative storytelling to drive growth for PHD. As the agency’s new business lead sine June of 2025, she has played a key role in turning pitch opportunities into significant wins.
Gettings brings a strong growth pedigree to the role, having previously led growth marketing across 13 Asia-Pacific markets at VML. That experience has given her a distinctly regional perspective on identifying opportunities, building relationships and positioning the agency to win.
Hailing from a creative background rather than a traditional media pathway, she also brings a fresh perspective to growth, and indeed the pitch room. Since joining PHD, she has worked closely with senior leadership to sharpen the agency’s narrative, support a major brand refresh and reshape the agency pitch process.
Her impact at PHD is reflected in the numbers. According to COMvergence, PHD was Omnicom Media’s best-performing media agency in 2025, winning seven accounts and adding more than $60 million in media billings. The haul propelled PHD to fifth place in the research body’s global agency ranking, cementing Gettings’ credentials as one of the industry’s standout growth chiefs.
5. Josh McDonnell, growth and marketing director, WPP Media ANZ
As growth and marketing director at WPP Media, Josh McDonnell takes on a dual role, responsible for both growth and reputation of its Mindshare agency brand.
According to the 2025 COMvergence rankings Mindshare finished equal second on total new business, equal to WPP cousin EssenceMediacom. His impact can also be seen in the agency’s rise through RECMA, with the agency sitting at third in qualitative rankings, after only two years ago being ranked ninth.
Over the past 12 months, McDonnell has played a role in shaping, promoting and commercialising the agency brand’s proposition, ensuring the agency’s story was consistently brought to life across clients, prospects, industry media, thought leadership, awards and event.
Working alongside the agency leadership team, including CEO Maria Grivas who takes a healthy role in the new biz driving too, he has led the growth and marketing strategy having an impact in new business wins including Suncorp, Asahi and NSW and Victoria Labor, while supporting strong retention momentum across the broader client portfolio.
4. Sam Geer, managing director, media, Accenture Song
There are few people who look more at home in a pitch room than Accenture Song’s affable MD Sam Geer.
In 2024 Geer jumped ship from Initiative to help launch Accenture Song’s media arm alongside Melissa Fein and Chris Colter. The team has followed its headline-grabbing Optus win with another major account victory, adding Australia Post to its growing client roster.
A huge scalp for a media operation that didn’t exist a couple of years ago.
The trio remain a formidable new business unit. Fein brings the hustle, Colter the strategic nous, while Geer has built a reputation as the personable frontman who can charm a room while keeping his eye firmly on the prize.
With Accenture Song’s media business continuing to build momentum, Geer is proving that last year’s Optus win was no flash in the pan. Expect to see plenty more of him and the team when the next big pitch rolls into town.
3. Kim Hamilton, chief marketing and communications officer, Omnicom Oceania
It has been a defining year for Kim Hamilton. She was promoted to chief marketing and communications officer of Omnicom Oceania, Hamilton has helped shape a growth story that extends beyond traditional new business. In the past 12 months, she has led a team contributing to multiple, agency wins, client renewals, advisory and transformation engagements and the establishment of multiple new integrated connected models for clients.
At the same time, she has played a leading role in bringing Omnicom Oceania’s enterprise brand, vision and values to life, aligning teams around a shared ambition for growth. Leading the Omnicom marketing and communications team in Australia and New Zealand, Hamilton has evolved the function to support Omnicom’s growth agenda, establishing a dedicated partner marketing capability, appointing Omnicom Oceania’s first head of communications, and creating a market-leading program of thought leadership, client engagement and industry partnerships.
Under Hamilton’s watchful eye Omnicom has one some huge clients including Baiada and Bunnings.
2. Nathan Young, chief growth officer, WPP Media
Nathan Young is one of the rare soldiers left standing with “growth” still left in his job title. And as “Aimee Buchannan’s right hand man” Young has certainly been instrumental of the growth of WPP Media.
Over the past several years, WPP Media has been up there or abouts as the most successful holding company. Young and his team have consistently delivered impressive new business results, with WPP Media ranked number two in COMvergence’s 2025 New Business Barometer.
Recent wins include MG, Suncorp, BYD, Michael Hill, Asahi, NSW Labor and Sorbent, alongside the successful retention of Uber and L’Oréal.
The Suncorp and L’Oréal pitches were widely regarded as two of the most competitive and closely contested reviews in the market, making their successful acquisition and retention particularly significant achievements.
Beyond new business, Young has helped WPP Media take number one spot in RECMA’s 2026 rankings. Equally important is Young’s leadership. He has assembled and nurtured a high-performing growth and
marketing team, creating a culture of collaboration, excellence and continuous improvement.
He has also expanded the influence of the function beyond new business, overseeing initiatives such as the launch of the WPP Media Futures series, WPP Media’s annual Partner Upfronts, helping shape industry conversations and strengthen the company’s market profile.
1. Helena Snowdon, chief business development officer, Publicis Groupe ANZ
Helena Snowdon overseas all new business at Publicis Groupe ANZ and she’s been a pivotal driver to the collective success and growth of the group’s media practice.
It marks the second time in as many weeks that Snowdon has placed in a Best of the Best list after she was fourth on the creative agency growth chiefs list. Snowdon was described to B&T as the engine behind all the Publicus Groupe’s new business operations — no mean feat.
Recognised as one of the region’s top growth executives, Snowdon has overseen many of the industry’s most significant account wins over the seven years she has been with the business. Under her leadership, the group has secured major recent partnerships including Samsung, Tourism Australia, Microsoft, Industry SuperFunds, Kellanova, Campari and Ralph Lauren.
COMvergence has Publicis Media at the top for new business in FY25 raking in more than $200 million. This includes some massive accounts such as Honda and Flight Centre. This does not include the mammoth global accounts that Zenith Media won such as Aldi and Paramount Global. And in 2026 RECMA is forecasting Publicis Media to record the largest net increase in activity, with confirmed account wins including Samsung, Honda, Industry Superfunds, Microsoft, Kellanova and Campari.
Snowdon is a new business veteran who started out at global media networks in London almost 25 years ago. She builds high-performing teams and industry-leading partnerships, finding evermore innovative and tangible ways to unlock growth through creativity, data and technology.
