Accenture Song ANZ media lead wins stateside role Accenture Song's ANZ Media Lead, Melissa Fein, has stepped up to take a new role at the company, set to be based in the US, as per Mediaweek's report. She joined the company in 2024. As a result, Sam Geer will take on the ANZ Media Lead role to be supported by Chris Colter and Nick Thomas. Geer steps up from the Managing Director, Media A/NZ role, a role he's held since September 2024.  Geer later wrote on LinkedIn, "An American super-sized congratulations to the wonderful Melissa Fein on your appointment to lead the US media proposition for Accenture Song. This market has never really been big enough for your ambition and talent - what amazing recognition of what we have built here in Australia.  "We are still only at the beginning of this journey and I’ve never been more galvanised to continue the mission with Chris Colter and the ridiculously talented team we are building here. The best is ye

Senior marketing duo launch REALMS Rhian Mason and Elly Brand have launched REALMS, an independent consultancy designed to connect specialist brand and agency teams around a shared cultural strategy spanning social, earned media, creators, content and partnerships. “Powered by our Cultural Intelligence tools, we uncover what’s changing, define where a brand can matter, then connect strategy and execution across the whole journey, from brand and creative to social, content, creators, earned, partnerships and experiences,” the company’s LinkedIn post read.   Announcing the launch on LinkedIn, Elly Brand wrote: “After four years of consulting, I knew I didn’t want to go back to a traditional full-time role. I still wanted to challenge myself, build something and do work I’m really proud of, just in a way that made sense for the life I have now. Starting a business may not sound like the obvious way to simplify an already busy life,

Lara Vandersluis (Barnett) joins Vocus as head of marketing Lara Vandersluis has been appointed marketing head at Vocus.  Announcing her move on LinkedIn, she wrote: “Vocus sits at the intersection of critical infrastructure and a rapidly changing technology landscape. Businesses and government need reliable, high-performance connectivity more than ever. There’s a pretty exciting mix of scale, purpose and pace at this organisation that I’m excited to build a marketing function around.” She will lead Vocus’s B2B marketing function across SMB, Enterprise, Government, Strategic and Carrier Wholesale customer segments, managing a team of 11 marketers.  Vandersluis worked across Generate, Kinetic IT, Logicalis, Equifax, rhipe, and Cloud Collective in senior marketing roles.     Today the Brave appoints Laura Mahony MD Today the Brave has appointed former Havas Host executive Laura Mahony to the newly created role of manag

Ella Smith joins Canva as ANZ comms manager Ella Smith has joined Canva as an ANZ communications manager.  She was a senior account director at The Regional PR Co and worked across 10x10 Philanthropy, NSW Ministerial offices, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media, and Warrego Watchman.  Eden Shearer joins Mana Communications Mana Communications has welcomed Eden Shearer as a senior account executive based in Wellington, NZ.   Shearer joins the team from Spang Digital, where she was a technical marketing specialist.  “After stints in Wellington and Wānaka, her time working down south sparked a genuine passion for food resilience in local communities, and it has stuck with her since,” the company’s post read.  Ashleigh Petrovski promoted at Kulani Kinis Ashleigh Petrovski has stepped up to senior PR and influencer partnerships executive at Kulani Kinis.  Petrovski has been with the team for more than four years and

Tracy Bustamante joins Cisco Tracy Bustamante has joined Cisco as a communications manager. She was most recently a comms manager at Intuit.  Previously, she worked across NRI ANZ, VMware, the University of Sydney, Adhesive, and Ovato Communications. She was also a sub-editor at Chattr for more than a year. Stolarski departs Optus Justin Stolarski has announced that he has departed Optus, where he was a senior corporate affairs and stakeholder engagement manager. Reflecting on his tenure, he wrote: “Of course, five years at Optus has thrown its fair share of challenges my way. Some periods were incredibly difficult, but they also pushed me to grow enormously, both personally and professionally. When I look back across the full five years, the good times far outweigh the tough ones. Stolarski worked at Momentum2 Pty Ltd, PPR ANZ, Weber Shandwick and FleishmanHillard. He was a media and communications lecturer at the University of Sydney.  He will take two week

Laura Kiely becomes director of people and corporate comms at NSW Health Laura Kiely has been appointed director of people and corporate communications at NSW Health.  She was a director of strategic communications and public affairs and a principal advisor of PR and public affairs at the Cancer Institute NSW for 13 years. Kiely previously worked across 6dc PR and Flynn Brankin Communications. Bronte Skinner named PR and Partnership executive at Kulani Kinis Bronte Skinner has been appointed PR and partnerships executive at Kulani Kinis. She was an influencing partnerships executive and previously worked at MAXMEDIALAB, The Littl and TMC PR. Gabe Woodmansey promoted at Special Australia Gabe Woodmansey has been elevated to creative director at Special Australia. He was a senior creative at the agency for three years.   He worked at Madman Entertainment, Ogilvy, J Walter Thompson, Spew Corp, The Wilderness Society Australia, and Rouser.  Woodmansey has