Sydney, Wednesday 22nd February 2023: IAB Australia today announced that Matt Rowley, CEO of Pedestrian Group has been appointed Chair of the IAB Australia Board, while Vanya Mariani, Commercial Director – Media (Sales & Customer Solutions) for Carsales, has been elected deputy chair. Caroline Oates, Head of YouTube, Google; Sarah Myers, General Manager – Audience & Marketing, REA Group and John McNerney, Senior Director – Platforms APAC, Yahoo have also joined the Board, with Andrew Brain stepping in to represent Seven West Media.
Rowley succeeds Nicole Bence who steped down from the IAB Board following her departure from Seven West Media. Rowley was previously IAB Chair from 2019 to 2021.
As Chair, Rowley will work closely with IAB Australia CEO, Gai Le Roy, on major changes and initiatives in relation to ratings, privacy, transparency and more. These are detailed in the IAB Australia Annual Report which was released last year.
Ms Le Roy commented: “2023 is shaping up as a milestone year for our industry and I’m delighted to have such a robust and representative Board to support our work. With more than 175 media, ad tech and marketing member organisations, IAB Australia is well placed to ensure we continue to support the digital advertising ecosystem.”
Rowley is CEO of Pedestrian Group, home of Pedestrian.TV, VICE, The Chainsaw, Refinery29, Gizmodo, Lifehacker, Business Insider and Kotaku, as well as OpenAir Cinemas. Pedestrian Group is owned by Nine Entertainment.
Mariani is Commercial Director Media at carsales.com. She oversees all sales and customer solutions activity for the company and has worked with carsales.com for more than 13 years.
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