Host’s Freedman to chair Communications Council
The Communications Council has elected Host chief executive, Anthony Freedman, chairman of the newly formed industry body.
He will be joined by Clemenger BBDO Sydney ECD, Richard Maddocks and DDB Australia and New Zealand chairman and CEO, Martin O’Halloran, as deputy chairmen.
The industry body, which was made official yesterday, was created as a result of the merger of the Advertising Federation of Australia (AFA), the Australasian Writers and Art Directors Association (AWARD) and the Account Planning Group (APG).
Freedman said: “I hope to demonstrate in a short time frame, that The Communications Council is a lot more than a rebranding of three existing organisations and will make a substantial difference to the way we position, promote, protect and educate this industry.”
Also dicussed at the meeting today was the proposed integration strategy of the three founding members, the strategic priorities of the new body, budgets for 2010 and re-branding.
The founding Board will remain in place until the first annual general meeting of the Council in April or May next year.
The Communications Council – founding board members:
- Anthony Freedman – Chairman – CEO, Host
- Martin O’Halloran – Deputy Chairman – Chairman and CEO, DDB, Australia and NZ
- Richard Maddocks – Deputy Chairman – ECD, Clemenger BBDO (Chairman, AWARD)
- John McLaren – Clemenger BBDO, Adelaide
- Michael Ritchie – Revolver
- Jeremy Nicholas, Executive Planning Director, BMF (Chairman, APG)
- Russel Howcroft, National CEO, GPY&R (Melbourne Committee Chair)
- Darryn Devlin – Creative Partner, Kastner and Partners
- Richard White-Smith – CEO, Morpheas Entertainment
- Matthew Melhuish – CEO, BMF
- Belinda Rowe – CEO, Zenith Optimedia
- Sudeep Gohil – Strategic Planning Partner, Droga5
- Mike Zeederberg, Managing Director, Profero