Virginia Hyland makes MFA comeback; new blood arrives on finance and interactive committees

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Tags: MFA Virginia Hyland Havas OMD PHD John Clements Sian Whitnall

Havas Media Group CEO Virginia Hyland has returned to the board of the Media Federation of Australia (MFA).

What you need to know:

Havas Media Group CEO resumes MFA duties after two previous stints as an Independent Director.
IPG Mediabrands CFO and OMD Chief Digital Officer Sian Whitnall also join committees.
New NGEN and 5+ appointments.

Virginia Hyland, now heading up Havas Media following its acquisition of her agency last year, has returned to the MFA board.

MFA CEO Sophie Madden said Hyland “has always been an active and committed member of the MFA community and the board.”

“Virginia provides a valuable perspective in helping to advance the work of the MFA and our industry,” she added.

Hyland said: “I am thrilled to be appointed to the MFA board to help guide and create new industry initiatives,” adding, “Off the back of the most challenging year for all of us, my focus will be to support the MFA to supercharge how we add value to our members and drive growth for marketers. I’m looking forward to the year ahead.”

The MFA has also revealed two new appointments: John Clements, Chief Financial Officer at IPG Mediabrands Australia will take over as Chair of the finance committee, replacing Hyland Media’s Vince Meoli, and Sian Whitnall, OMD Chief Digital Officer, will take the reins from PHD National MD Stuart Bailey as Chair of the interactive committee.

Both Meoli and Whitnall were recognised with an ‘Industry Contribution’ honour at the 2019 MFA Awards and were praised by Madden for their tireless work.

“Vince has made significant contributions to our industry throughout his career and we’ve been lucky to have the benefit of his innovation, passion and commitment to best practice. The MFA community would like to wish Vince all the best in his retirement. We’ll certainly miss him," said Madden.

“Thank you also to Stuart Bailey for steering MFA Interactive through important industry initiatives, such as the creation of MFA Digital Foundations and the Australian Digital Advertising Practices. We look forward to his continued involvement as an MFA member,” she added.

Other MFA appointments include WIN Television Advertising Sales Executive Emily Pye and Initiative Investment Partnership Senior Executive Michael Cali who are the new NGEN Sydney Chairs, replacing Ziff Davis, Myles Haslam and OMD’s Joe McCabe. Leona Irvine, Associate Digital Director at Initiative, takes over as Chair of the MFA 5+ Melbourne Committee, replacing Simon Schoen (Zenith) and Zoe Edwards (Spark Foundry).