Initiative moves Jo McAlister to Sydney general manager role
Initiative’s senior management continues to change, with new general managers named for Initiative Sydney and specialist retail business, Rufus Powered by Initiative.
Jo McAlister, currently the lead at Rufus Powered by Initiative, has been promoted to the role of general manager at Initiative Sydney, which was vacated in 2019 by Nick Wokes.
Rufus Powered by Initiative works on the national Amazon media portfolio across retail, device, music and Prime Video, providing Amazon with a full range of media service. McAlister had served as its GM since September of 2019.

Jo McAlister
She is also a former content marketing director at Foxtel and also spent time as marketing director at NBC Universal Media
Initiative has already found a replacement for McAlister in Kathryn Funari, who brings 15 years of experience trading and delivering media.
Funari was previously group business director at PHD, leading the Unilever Australia and Nine Entertainment Co accounts. Both she, and McAlister, are Marketing Academy Scholars.
Initiative Australia CEO, Melissa Fein, said: “We’re delighted to offer Jo the opportunity to lead Initiative Sydney. The agency is on a growth trajectory and Jo has the experience and leadership talents to continue the agency’s momentum.”

Kathryn Furnari
Fein added: “Kathryn is a highly respected, results-driven executive. She has proven her skills in managing large clients in complex and fast-moving market categories. I’m thrilled to welcome her to Initiative and to our senior leadership team.”
The latest changes at Initiative come off the back of two senior hires revealed earlier this week, with Rebecca Drummond coming on board as Initiative Sydney’s first group strategy director, while Toby Maclachlan joined as strategy director at Initiative Melbourne.
Upon those changes, Initiative chief strategy officer Chris Colter said the agency is “building the media industry version of The Avengers.”
The hires follow recent account wins including IAG and Afterpay.