Bastion creates global chief operating officer role, appointing Karen Powell
Bastion has appointed Karen Powell as group chief operating officer, a newly created role overseeing Bastion’s global operations across clients, businesses, people, and marketing.
Powell joined from her previous role as the managing director of B2B marketing agency McCorkell and Associate. She has worked with brands including Salesforce, Lexus, Telstra, EMC and AIG during her career.
Powell and Watts
In her new role, Powell will work across Bastion’s presence in Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast, Los Angeles, New York City, Wellington, and Auckland, as well as agency partnerships in 10 Asian markets.
She has experience across the Asia Pacific and North American markets and brings knowledge in regional go-to-market planning, integrated digital marketing, audience intelligence, marketing automation and experiential events.
Bastion’s CEO, Jack Watts said: “Really as an agency you are judged on two things – client experience and staff experience. Karen is tasked with ensuring those two things are truly world-class, every day, and that clients can access our wide range of services, in a completely seamless way.
“Personally, the search for a superstar COO was a long one. There aren’t many people in the agency game who have grown independent agencies, at scale, across multiple services and markets. Karen has done that, and after a year of convincing, we’re wrapped to have her on board the mission.”
Powell added: “I am delighted to be part of Bastion’s next stage of growth and to help bring Jack’s vision to life. Bastion’s integrated model across all business units, globally, is genuinely unique.
“Offering the agility of an independent agency and providing expertise from a wide range of disciplines allows for truly world-class work for our clients. I look forward to working with the diverse, curious, and creative people at Bastion as we continue to grow the new world agency.”
Powell’s previous agency, McCorkell entered liquidation at the end of 2022. Powell recently leading a vote to replace O’Brien Palmer’s Liam Bailey as its liquidator.
Bastion rebranded from Bastion Collective in 2021.
Got a tip?
Darcy Song was a reporter at Mumbrella, covering media owners, adtech and social platforms. She left in October 2023.
Linkedin
Have your say