Initiative Australia appoints Geoff Clarke as COO and Hannah Rook as national head of digital

Initiative Australia has created two new roles in the agency’s national management team, naming Geoff Clarke as chief operating officer and Hannah Rook as national head of digital. Clarke has been client partner at Initiative and Rook is formerly head of marketing communications for retailer Harvey Norman.

Says Lee Leggett, CEO, Inititive Australia: “These appointments are new positions in the agency and reflect the continuing evolution of Initiative’s business and national growth through recent wins such as Cancer Council of New South Wales, Qatar Airways and Jemena. Hannah is an industry leader in client-side evolution with her Harvey Norman credentials and Geoff is a highly respected and experienced agency leader. Their skills will greatly benefit our clients and client teams.”

Before joining Initiative as client partner in August last year Clarke was managing director of Mediacom Sydney. With his new COO role he will continue to manage his Sydney client portfolio and also take on new responsibilities including ensuring the agency’s national resources, systems and procedures function efficiently.

Rook has 15 years experience in both client and agency roles. She joined Australia’s largest retailer Harvey Norman Holdings in 2010 in the company’s first fully digital position and later became head of digital marketing, in the process building a full service digital operations team from the ground up. In 2012 Rook was promoted to head of marketing communications spanning the breadth of all marketing and advertising for the brand.

She is also formerly head of digital at OMD in Sydney and also worked at Ikon in trading, planning and digital roles.

Says Leggett: “A great deal of the Initiative Australia business demands the talents that both Hannah and Geoff bring in their new roles. We welcome their contributions.”