Xandr, AT&T’s advanced advertising company, has announced the appointments of Nicole Prior as managing director, Australia and New Zealand, and Masatsune Shironishi as managing director, Japan, as Xandr continues to invest across APAC.
Shironishi’s appointment is effective immediately and Prior’s role is effective November 1st.
In her role as managing director, Australia and New Zealand for Xandr, Nicole Prior’s (pictured) remit will include overseeing the Australian business operations and continuing the momentum that the team has established in building a premium Australian video marketplace.
She is the former chief media partnerships officer at IPG Mediabrands’ UM and brings extensive agency and broadcaster experience with executive roles held at MediaCom, Finecast, Ikon Communications, Network 10 and Seven Network.
Shironishi and Prior will report to Xandr head of global regions, Jerome Underhill.
“Xandr has experienced strong growth across APAC as advertiser demand grows for premium, brand and privacy safe environments and publishers and broadcasters seek to meet that demand through partnerships with Xandr. These senior leadership appointments are reflective of the broader investments we are making throughout APAC to allow us to best serve our expanding set of customers,” Underhill said.
“I am thrilled that Nicole will be joining our Australia and New Zealand business at such a pivotal time. Her deep experience within both agencies and broadcasters will prove to be invaluable as we look to strengthen our leadership position at the intersection of TV and digital.”
“I am delighted to be joining Xandr as the company embarks on its next phase of development,” said Prior.
“Helping advertisers, agencies and publishers navigate their way through the seismic changes we are seeing across the advertising ecosystem is something I am passionate about. I believe Xandr is well placed to realise its own transformation in addition to that of its customers.”
In addition to these appointments, Xandr is continuing to build its APAC leadership team including a general manager to lead Southeast Asia and India. Xandr has already expanded the leadership team, with Tom Dover having relocated from Sydney to Singapore as director, video marketplace development for APAC.
Dover will be responsible for accelerating Xandr’s video-first product adoption delivering creative and differentiated solutions to the region’s largest agencies and advertisers.
Xandr recently announced results for its platform in Q2 with total international platform spend up by 76 per cent YoY in Q2 2021. To support this growth, Xandr has made 14 hires in 2021 across Commercial, Services and Operations in Australia, India, and Japan.
