GroupM hires Aimee Buchanan as ANZ CEO

GroupM has named Aimee Buchanan, formerly CEO of OMD, as CEO for Australia and New Zealand.

She will join GroupM in October to lead its network of agencies, including Mindshare, MediaCom, Wavemaker, Essence, Neo and m/SIX, as well as its specialty media businesses Finecast, Xaxis and Sightline.

Buchanan has been CEO of OMD in Australia since 2016 and has been with the agency since 2011. 

"It is with a heavy heart that I leave my OMD friends and family," she said in a release. "I have loved every step of the journey with this team and I am proud of what we have built and achieved together. A big thank you to all of the OMDers across the nation, our clients and partners for all their support over the last 10 years. I am excited to take on the new role at GroupM and believe they are uniquely placed to influence how media drives growth for clients’ businesses and shapes society."

Ashutosh Srivastava, GroupM APAC CEO and acting CEO of GroupM Australia, called Buchanan an "exceptional agency leader with a phenomenal track record and an intimate knowledge of what clients need, and how agencies and their people thrive". 

Peter Horgan, CEO of Omnicom Media Group in Australia and New Zealand, will be covering the OMD CEO duties while an executive search takes place. He said Buchanan has made "an incredible contribution" in her time with the business. "She has been a big part of the successful position the agency is in today, and for that we thank her immensely," Horgan said in a statement provided to Campaign. "We wish Aimee well in her new challenge. We are confident that we have the talent and structures in place for the continued success of OMD and our clients. The executive team and leadership across all offices is strong and we look forward to the next chapter."

Buchanan was CEO of the Year in Campaign's Women Leading Change awards in 2019, agency head of the year in the 2018 Agency of the Year awards for ANZ, and a member of Campaign's 40 Under 40 in 2014.