Clemenger BBDO Brisbane snares Nancy Hartley and James Burchill for joint ECD roles; Vanessa Brennan appointed managing director
Clemenger BBDO Brisbane has revamped its management team, luring former SapientNitro Australia executive creative directors Nancy Hartley (near left) and James Burchill (far left) as joint ECDs, and hiring Vanessa Brennan (centre) as managing director.
Hartley (near left) and Burchill (far left) – who departed SapientNitro on Friday – joined SapientNitro in 2007 as creative directors, gaining international acclaim as creative directors on Tourism Queensland’s ‘Best Job in the World’ campaign. They were promoted to ECDs in March 2010. Both started their careers at Clemenger agencies with Hartley spending 15 years at Clemenger BBDO Brisbane as a copywriter and Burchill as an AFA graduate at Clemenger BBDO Sydney.
Brennan previously worked at Clemenger BBDO Brisbane, where she was client services director from 2003 until January 2006. She then joined Cummins & Partners Brisbane (now SapientNitro) as national communications and CRM director. From 2009 until February 2012 she was head of marketing for Terry White Chemists, a role followed by a brief stint as CEO of Canstar Blue.
Clemenger Group executive chairman, Robert Morgan, says it was a great opportunity to get some of the best people in Australia to run Clemenger BBDO Brisbane. The appointments make it one of the few Australian agencies where the majority of the executive leadership team is female.
Says Morgan: “Vanessa, Nancy and James are passionate locals with international reputations. They are new-age advertising leaders who will help bring Clemenger BBDO Brisbane into line with the rest of the group and make us the number one agency in Brisbane. We will also be utilising their vast talents across the Clemenger Group nationally.”
Morgan paid tribute to the current managing director Kurt Viertel who has resigned from the agency after three years at the helm, thanking him for his contribution.
“Kurt has been running the agency in what has been a difficult market over the past three years and we wish him well in his future career,” says Morgan. “We are in discussions in respect to continuing his career within the Clemenger Group.”
25 Comments
Go team. Congrats. VB…so hot right now
And here I thought you guys were semi retiring… 🙂
Congrats to Nance, James and Vanessa on your new venture. Congrats to Clems too. You couldn’t ask for nicer, more talented people to steer your ship.
Best news for Clems in years!
This is good news for Clemenger and for Brisbane. Smart hiring.
Puttin’ the band back together. Congrats guys. Clems are lucky to have you.
Woop woop!
Well done to Nance, James and Vanessa. Clems has done well here…SN will miss your style, grace and creativity.
Congrats Nancy and James! Good luck with it.
Jim S.
Nice move James, wishing you and Nancy all the best in your new venture. Cheers!
3 of the smartest and nicest people in the industry. Can’t wait to see what comes out of Clems!
Where’s that leave CD Jim?
Great work you three, good luck!
I’ve met those guys before, they seem really nice.
Congratulations James and Nance! Exciting times ahead!
Great news! Congratulations guys.
I wondered where you two were going! Congrats!!
Smart move by Clems! 🙂
Brilliant news for Clems. Top talent that really understands Brisbane. Good times!
Great Move, James and Nancy – don’t know Vanessa, but if those two rate you, she must have what it takes.
Will drop in to say ‘Hi’ next time I’m in town.
Well done x
What a power house! Three highly talented, seriously smart people. Congrats to you all.
Amazing! Almost wishing my Clems days weren’t behind me. Congratulations to all 3, and especially to Team Clems. You couldn’t find 3 better people to lead the team.
Good luck Kurt. Hope you land quickly.
Good luck Jim.
Looking forward to the challenge you three.
Although it would be really useful to my KPI’s if you could tear down SN first.
Thanks. Appreciate it.
Lucky Clems!
Congrats James. One of the best in the business, good to see you back at BBDO, their lucky to have you and best of luck. Would have tried to pull you down south if I knew you had itchy feet.
Congratulations guys. Brisbane is lucky to have such talented and wonderful people such as yourselves to inspire us, to have all three within the one company is a masterstroke. Clems is coming back.