Sarla Fernando is stepping down from her role as Director of Regulatory and Advocacy / Strategic Advisor at the Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA) after a tenure of 4.5 years.

Fernando's career has spanned various sectors, including privacy, data strategy, digital marketing, social media, and customer-focused strategic frameworks. Prior to joining ADMA, she held positions as audience management director and senior corporate counsel for Bauer Media Australia (now Are Media), and corporate counsel and privacy director at Nine Entertainment Co.

During her time at ADMA, Fernando represented the data-driven marketing and advertising community, participated in government consultations, developed and taught compliance courses, and created regulatory resources for the marketing community. She also collaborated with marketing and legal teams to ensure best practices, supported major projects around risk, compliance, and governance, and ran regulatory workshops for some of Australia's largest brands.

Fernando has been an instrumental voice in preparing brands for the transformation Australian Privacy Law changes, with tranche one landing in September and tranche two expected post-election in 2025.

"It's been an incredible honour to serve and represent the data-driven marketing and advertising community in so many meaningful ways. When I started, I was given a 'blank slate' and the freedom to approach Regulatory and Advocacy in the way I knew best. While it led to a less conventional approach, I'm incredibly proud of what ADMA has achieved during my time here," Fernando said.

Fernando said she's moving on to a new role that will allow her to apply her skills to help marketers balance compliance with delivering a great customer experience, but hasn't yet revealed what it is.

"I'm stepping into an exciting new role that stretches my mind and comfort zone. This new opportunity will allow me to apply my skills to help some of Australia's best marketers balance compliance with delivering a great customer experience," she said in a LinkedIn post.

In July this year, ADMA appointed Rob Nicholls to lead the regulatory and policy teams and work alongside Fernando. Nicholls brought with him 40 years' experience in competition, regulation and governance, and has previously worked with the ACCC, Webb Henderson and Gilbert + Tobin.

"ADMA is in a strong position to lead the industry through upcoming regulatory reforms, and I'll continue to support from the sidelines, cheering on the brilliant new team [announcement coming soon]. The industry is in great hands," Fernando concluded.