Independent media agency Magic has announced a significant investment in its Leadership Team following a period of strong organic growth.

The reshuffle sees Shahram Ghaffurian, a founder of Magic and the previous Head of Media, promoted to CEO. The agency has also welcomed new appointments, including Bernie Cullen as Head of Media, Sarah Baskerville as Head of Growth, and the promotion of Sam Terminelli to Head of Strategy.

Ghaffurian, who pioneered the strategic integration of mathematical methodologies into the realm of media investment, termed 'Mediamatics', has been instrumental in the agency's growth. The agency said his promotion to CEO signals a continued commitment to this unique approach.

Cullen meanwhile, joins Magic from GroupM, where she served as Head of Delivery for Victoria and South Australia. With 16 years of experience working across local and global brands in digital media and marketing, Cullen brings a wealth of knowledge to her new role across industries such as FMCG, energy, retail, ecommerce, travel and retail.

Baskerville, in the newly created role of Head of Growth, comes from growth strategy firm Vribrance. With two decades of experience as a strategic partner and leader of transformative growth in digital marketing, Baskerville has also worked with News Corp, GumGum, Ansible, Bauer Media and Fairfax over her career. She's tasked with leading the growth and expansion of the agency via new partnerships and the productisation of Magic’s Mediamatics platform.

Terminelli, who joined Magic in 2021 and was most recently Head of Engagement, has over a decade of marketing experience working across full-funnel engagement strategies and actions. His promotion to Head of Strategy underscores the agency's commitment to data-led strategic offerings backed by mathematical modelling.

In the last 12 months, Magic said its business has doubled, attracting new clients including Sophos global, Fivetran, and Maxwell & Williams. Ghaffurian attributed this success to the agency's unique Mediamatics approach.

"Each of these new leadership roles will be key contributors to the realisation of our growth and expansion goals in this pivotal new chapter for Magic," he said. "Until now, Magic has been relatively quiet in market and fuelled by organic growth driven by the industry-leading performance outcomes and service excellence.

"This new, highly experienced team represents a turning point in the next phase of Magic's growth and we are excited to see what the future brings."

Baskerville echoed Ghaffurian's sentiments, stating, "Now more than ever marketers need to prove the commercial impact of their work beyond traditional media metrics. It’s time for marketing to evolve from a cost centre to a growth engine in the eyes of the board. Magic’s proprietary approach, applying math to media, not only drives market leading performance, it provides a source of truth for the commercial outcomes driven by our clients’ marketing efforts."

Terminelli, reflecting on his time at Magic, said, "Being at Magic for three years it’s been great to be part of our growth journey to date. I’m looking forward to the next iteration of growth in the business and am excited to lead a data-led strategic offering that’s backed by mathematical modelling."