Sue Todd, the CEO of magazine trade body Magnetic Media, has been appointed as the new CEO of NABS, the support organisation for the advertising and media industry.
Todd will begin the role in April, following the exit of Diana Tickell.
However, she will not be replaced as CEO of a standalone Magnetic business. The Professional Publishers’ Association has decided to “incorporate” Magnetic into its organisation as a “key strategic pillar”.
Of her NABS appointment, Todd said: “I’m thrilled to be joining NABS after seven fantastic years running Magnetic. The past few years have been incredibly challenging and NABS, under Diana’s leadership, has been a critical source of support, advice and expertise for people across the advertising and media industry.”
Todd began her career at EMAP (now Bauer) in the research team, working through the ranks to become marketing, people and culture director. She then spent two years as marketing director at CBS Outdoor (now Global Outdoor), before running specialist brand and culture consultancy Wonder for seven years, where her clients included Channel 4, Harrods, MEC, Mediacom, Maxus, Primesight and Grey.
Simon Daglish, chairman of NABS and deputy MD of commercial at ITV, said: “We are delighted that Sue is joining NABS as our new CEO. She has all the drive, skills and passion necessary to build on all that NABS has achieved in supporting the wellbeing of our industry, as well as to lead the organisation through its next ambitious phase.”
PPA: time is right to ‘evolve’ Magnetic
With Todd’s impending departure, the PPA said it has decided the time is right to “evolve” as CEO Sajeeda Merali rolls out the organisation’s new strategy and positioning.
Todd launched Magnetic in 2015 to help customers get the best return from their advertising spend with magazine media. Having originally been launched under the working name of “Project Orange”, Magnetic had replaced the marketing function of the PPA and prompted the redundancy of the trade body’s marketing director James Papworth.
Working with the UK’s largest consumer publishers, Magnetic had a remit to champion the power and vitality of magazine media to the marketing and advertising community.
Merali, who joined the PPA as CEO in September, said: “Bringing together the resources of Magnetic and the PPA will benefit both the advertising community and the specialist media businesses that we represent.
“Magnetic will continue to exist to champion this channel and the deep engagement that it has with its communities. This also presents an opportunity to reimagine the Magnetic proposition and ensure it aligns with revenue generation and the broader PPA objectives around championing a sustainable industry as a collective.”
The PPA represents, champions and supports around 250 UK publishing companies, which is just over a third (35%) of UK publishing industry.
