Mindshare names new CEO

GroupM has announced that Maria Grivas will join the group as CEO of Mindshare Australia & New Zealand.

Grivas will take on the role in October and lead the Mindshare team in their next era. She joins from Reprise, IPG Mediabrands’ digitally-led full-service performance agency, where she is CEO. Before that she was Chief Data And Technology Officer at UM Australia for five years. Grivas has 20 years’ experience in the industry, predominately focused on the development and implementation of data-led transformation in media and brand communications.  

Grivas replaces Katie Rigg-Smith, whose promotion to Chief Strategy Officer of WPP Australia & New Zealand, after 23 years with Mindshare, was recently announced.

Aimee Buchanan, GroupM Australia & New Zealand CEO, says: “We were looking for a highly empathic leader to shape the next era of Mindshare’s product and culture proposition and we are thrilled that Maria fits that bill so well. Maria brings with her a unique blend of high emotional intelligence, coupled with the smarts to build on what Katie and the team have established in Mindshare ANZ. She is passionate about baking purpose into the core of our proposition, which aligns so well with Mindshare’s Good Growth ambition.

“Maria is an incredibly accomplished leader. Her leadership experience and her expert knowledge in data-led transformation in media and brand communications, lend themselves to Mindshare’s greater focus on commerce, transformation, tech and experience. Importantly, her personal values, and commitment to demonstrating the value of marketing as a growth driver, set her up perfectly to take Mindshare from strength-to-strength. I’m beyond excited to welcome her to the Mindshare and GroupM team.”

Grivas’ remit includes leading strategy and operations for Mindshare’s 250-strong network across Sydney, Melbourne, and New Zealand, as well as performance agency Neo, m/SIX and bespoke luxury agency  L’Atelier.

Mindshare manages close to $ 400m in media investment billings in the region and counts some of Australia’s biggest and most-loved brands among its clients, including nab, Foxtel, Streamotion, Tourism New Zealand, Nike, Treasury Wines Estate, IKEA, Volvo, University of Melbourne, Kimberly Clark, Craveable Brands, General Mills among them.

Katie Rigg-Smith says: “I know I leave Mindshare in the best possible hands with Maria taking the lead. Maria is a unique talent with the perfect blend of EQ and IQ and exactly what Mindshare needs to take the agency into the next chapter as we realise our Good Growth ambitions for both our clients and our people. I can’t wait to see what she and the team achieve going forward – I will be cheering them all along.” 

Maria Grivas says: “I am passionate about the very valuable role media agencies play towards marketing effectiveness for brands, and I am so aligned with the legacy created by Katie towards this ambition. What I love about where Mindshare is heading with ‘Good Growth’ is the conscious redefinition of effectiveness for the 21st Century. I am eager to focus on growth that places value on purpose over profit; that drives brands forward in their ESG goals; and most importantly, growth that enables our people’s wellbeing, their resilience and ultimately equips them with capabilities for the future. In my mind, this is precisely what we mean when we speak to ‘the agency of the future’ and I am so energised to shape this with Mindshare.”

GroupM is the media investment arm of WPP AUNZ.

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