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Various humans take up new and exciting roles

An enticing potpourri of recent appointments for your people-watching/judging/slating pleasure.

Howden returns

After spending two years with South-East Asian focused boutique agency Riverorchid as regional executive creative director, Chris Howden has returned to New Zealand to join indie agency Adplus in Napier.

Howden, who also worked with TBWA in both Malaysia and Dubai as ECD, says the timing was perfect.

“My contract with Riverorchid was coming to an end, we had sold our house in Nelson and we wanted to move on. The Adplus offer came out of the blue and really offered the best of both worlds: the ability to work with a modern indie agency and lifestyle of living in the Hawkes Bay.”

At Riverorchid, Howden worked on Vietnam’s newest telco Vietnamobile, producing a spot with Aussie director Patrick Hughes. His final spot for Riverorchid is for the crash helmet charity AIP and is currently in production in Australia with director Marcus Hamill.

“Riverorchid were a fun agency to work for but really the regional role didn’t quite make sense and both sides were big enough to recognise that. I’m very proud to have been part of their growth and rebranding and at least people now have some idea who these crazy guys are,” he says.

Acumen Business

Acumen Republic is expanding Coran Lill will lead the establishment of its new office in Sydney as group account director.

Lill has been with Acumen Republic since 2005 and worked on capital markets projects in the Auckland office until 2008, before becoming government relations director in Wellington.

He worked as a solicitor at Buddle Findlay and was previously a reporter for the National Business Review.

Acumen Republic has also appointed Catherine Arnott as senior account manager in Sydney. She was previously at Sydney-based Recognition PR.

The Tudor Dynasty

Professional Public Relations (PPR) has appointed Jonathan Tudor, a highly experienced communications specialist with an extensive international background, to the new position of general manager New Zealand.

Over the past 20 years Tudor has worked in account director and senior management roles in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and most recently Dubai. He has managed communications programmes in a broad range of business sectors and also has an MBA.

After graduating from University College London, Tudor worked in public relations consultancies in London in the 1990s until coming to New Zealand in 1996, becoming Auckland general manager of an international agency before returning to the UK in 2004.

Since 2006 he has been with the Middle East’s largest PR consultancy network, Asda’a Burson-Marsteller in Dubai, firstly leading its corporate practice and then becoming general manager of sister company Polaris. In these roles he led substantial local teams and programmes across the Middle East and North Africa, working with a wide range of national and international clients.

He will take up his new role at the end of July. Bob Wallace remains national director of PPR NZ and Sally Haysom remains executive chairman.

Radio Control

Tait Radio Communications has strengthened its experienced senior management team with two new talented members.

James Kyd joins the company in the role of chief marketing officer and Arjen Maarleveld is the new Tait global operations manager.

Managing director Frank Owen says Tait Radio Communications is thrilled to be bolstering the ranks with two such accomplished executives, who will assist the company in becoming more solution-focused and help drive growth.

“We are excited to be working alongside James and Arjen with their valuable experience in the area of global technology and services businesses. James will bring passionate marketing leadership to our evolving customer-centric marketing organisation. Marketing will play an increased role in strategic business development and the importance of this is reflected in the title of chief marketing officer,” he says. “Arjen brings a wealth of experience in the field of high-tech product development, strategy and business development. His skill will complement those existing staff, providing global horsepower and expertise, as we make the shift to world-class solutions delivery for our customers.”

Kyd comes to Tait from IBM in Auckland and held the position of director of marketing and solutions for growth markets (Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa) in its general business unit.
“As a Kiwi who has been working in the global communications and technology industry it is just fantastic to join a New Zealand company that plays a leadership role in its industry. I look forward to working alongside innovative people who all play a part in Tait being seen as a leader in a global context.  My first task has been to meet customers face-to-face at a US-based tradeshow for utilities and I am keen to better understand our target markets from the start,” he says.

Maarleveld has been the managing director at NSI Europe for the past six years, where he designed and managed strategy, marketing, technology and organisational projects for high-tech companies and investment organisations.

“My new position will increase the focus on Tait global operations and marks an exciting development for the company,” he says. “My role will be to ensure that the execution of everything Tait does in the global marketplace results in delivered value to the customer.  This fits right into the company strategy of creating world-class customer delivery.”

Templarary Appointment

Datamine has welcomed Mike Parsons into the fold as a ‘Templar’, or more conventionally, a senior business consultant.

Parsons, who spent six years on Wall Street and, in completely unrelated news, is also a former chess champ, says he’s looking forward to joining the Datamine team and, “together with their clients, creating solutions that are creative and unexpected, but also measurable, pragmatic and grounded solidly in facts”.

From next week, Tudor will join the growing client services team at Datamine, ,which was established in 1995 and moved to new premises in late 2009 as a result of its expansion.

“With his varied background, we are confident that Mike will be able to work exceptionally with clients, uncovering exactly what they need to succeed and deliver lasting positive change in their organisations,” says Datamine director, Sally Carey.

Tudor is a member of Business Mentors New Zealand and is director of International Hockey for the NZ Ice Hockey Federation.

Carey says Datamine’s ever-growing, exceptional team and culture has enabled it to strengthen its market leadership position and continue exploring a range of exciting opportunities in Australia.”

In Fuse

Carlie Platts has been promoted from junior account manager to account manager at Fuse after seven months with the fresh-faced PR firm that opened its doors last year.

Fuse general manager Jeremy Leonard says that it was a matter of when, not if for Carlie.

“We are really keen to see our people grow in front of us, and that is precisely what happened to Carlie, in a really short time. She possesses the hunger, personality and follow through that is expected at account manager level and we are very lucky to have her.”

Carlie joined Fuse in October 2009 and prior to that was with Spark Activate and deLaunay Enterprises.

Fuse has also appointed a new account executive Crissilia Suta, who will report directly to Platts.

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