Wavemaker Australia has announced the promotion of James Boardman to the newly created role of Chief Strategy Officer responsible for leading the agency’s strategy and planning practice across all five Australian offices and Auckland, New Zealand.

Boardman's role will also involve leveraging Wavemaker and GroupM’s data capabilities to create new growth opportunities for their brands. This move comes as part of Wavemaker's ongoing efforts to adapt to the evolving media landscape and deliver innovative solutions for its clients.

In his previous role as APAC Growth Strategy Partner, Boardman played a key part in local, regional and global pitches. He will continue to provide support for Wavemaker’s Asia-Pacific strategy community, drawing on his extensive experience in the region.

Boardman has been with Wavemaker for over a decade and has led the local launch of the agency’s Provocative Planning system and the rollout of Architect – a world first AI-powered multi-audience channel planning tool.

James Hier, Wavemaker's Chief Growth & Product Officer, said: 'Boardy is genuinely passionate about Wavemaker’s mission to positively provoke growth for our clients and is constantly inspiring our teams and our clients to push the boundaries of media craft and innovation. Tapping into his regional experience – including new thinking and approaches being rolled out in Asia – he will help elevate our work to be more holistic and high impact in driving client growth.'

Boardman said: 'I’m excited to work with a diverse range of our most important clients and help them shape the next phase of their media strategy and planning. I’m keen to lean heavily into our amazing global network and both import and export new innovations, approaches and ways of thinking about the media landscape and how we use it to connect businesses to their consumers.'