Sue Alexander Ash has been promoted to executive vice-president and managing director at Initiative.This morning’s announcement is the latest in a wave of senior level shuffles at Canada’s media companies.
Alexander Ash most recently held the title of SVP, client services at Initiative, where she’s worked for the last seven years. She fills a spot left vacant when Michele Pauchuk left the agency to join MEC (replacing Bruce Neve, who joined SMG to replace Lauren Richards who went to Media Experts and left again. Phew!)
In her new role, she leads a planning group and manages a multitude of accounts, including Sun Life Financial, The Home Depot, Best Western Hotels, Burger King and Victoria’s Secret.
Peter Mears, chairman of Mediabrands in Canada, told Marketing, “We spoke to many external candidates around the marketplace and just decided Sue was exactly the right person to take [Initiative] into the next chapters of our future. We met with many external people, and how lucky we are to have the right person in house.”
“I am really looking forward to working with Sue as we transform Initiative into a performance-led communications company,” said Tim Spengler, Initiative’s president, North America. “Her knowledge of our clients and the Canadian marketplace make her an obvious choice for us.”
“In the coming months, Initiative will evolve further to a performance-led communications company, and I will have the opportunity to lead this evolution,” added Alexander Ash. “This thinking is resonating very well with clients and it’s great to be part of that.”
Previous to joining Initiative, Alexander Ash was with The Media Company/MBS (Mediacom) as vice-president, group account director. In her decade there, she used her strategic planning skills to work on accounts including Subway, ConAgra Grocery Products, London Life Freedom 55 Financial, Procter & Gamble and Moosehead Breweries.
In addition to the retail, financial, quick-service restaurants and packaged goods categories, Alexander Ash has experience in the automotive category.
She has worked in the communications industry for more than 20 years in a broad spectrum of environments, from full-service agencies, client marketing and specialty media agencies.
At the beginning of her career, Alexander Ash did a stint at Vickers & Benson, where she worked on the McDonald’s business. She has also been with other global agencies, including FCB.
