David Kirk named as SMI chairman
Former Fairfax boss David Kirk has become non-executive chairman of media spend monitoring company SMI after buying into the business through his investment fund Bailador.
The announcement:
SMI, the market-leading advertising spend data business, has secured an equity injection from the Bailador Fund. The minority investment will be used to support the roll-out of SMI’s unique business model in international markets.
Bailador was founded in 2010 by David Kirk and Paul Wilson. Bailador provides expansion capital to businesses in the information economy sector including data, internet, software as a service, telecommunications and electronic media and marketing businesses. SMI is the fund’s second investment.
David Kirk, the former chief executive of Fairfax Media and current chairman of the Hoyts Group, has been appointed non-executive chairman of SMI as it accelerates its global expansion.
SMI chief executive Sue Fennessy believes Kirk brings an unrivalled understanding of the evolving media landscape and a deep knowledge of how data can bring insight to business managers.
“David’s extensive experience in running large media companies and the challenges they face will assist us as we build technology and data management solutions for the sector,’’ she said.
Well known for his understanding of traditional and digital media, Kirk has served on a number of boards and is also a former chief executive of printing and media services group PMP.
“SMI is a unique business with a great opportunity to replicate its business model globally and is already well advanced in that goal. In our view SMI will clearly be the leading provider of global media data,’’ Kirk said.
SMI recently appointed key industry leaders to drive its global expansion. Former Mediacom chief executive Anne Parsons has joined as its European CEO.
And Carolyn Fox, the former chief operating officer of Zenith Media, has started as the chief executive of SMI Asia Pacific. Fox has spent the past five years at private equity group Pacific Equity Partners and has an exceptionally strong background in both the media agency and financial sectors.
Source: SMI press release
