{"id":724072,"date":"2026-06-09T00:28:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T00:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/724072\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T00:28:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T00:28:16","slug":"sarah-oleary-returns-to-initiative-australia-as-melbourne-managing-director-campaign-brief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/724072\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarah O\u2019Leary returns to Initiative Australia as Melbourne\u00a0Managing Director \u2013 Campaign Brief"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t    June 9 2026, 9:16 am | BY Ricki Green | <a href=\"#comments\">No Comments<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t    \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Sarah-OLeary.jpg\" alt=\"Sarah O\u2019Leary returns to Initiative Australia as Melbourne\u00a0Managing Director\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t    \tInitiative Australia has announced the return of Sarah O\u2019Leary to the business as Managing Director of its Melbourne office, bringing back a highly regarded leader to the agency at a key time for its Victorian operations.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Leary rejoins Initiative as a \u201cboomeranger\u201d, having previously led Rufus, the agency\u2019s bespoke Amazon offering. She departed in early 2025 following her relocation to Melbourne, most recently serving as Chief Client Partner at Zentith.<\/p>\n<p>Her career also includes senior roles at Atomic and Havas, building a reputation for strong client leadership underpinned by deep\u00a0expertise\u00a0across planning and trading.<\/p>\n<p>As a people-first leader, O\u2019Leary is known for building high-performing teams and strong client partnerships, aligning closely with Initiative\u2019s culture-first operating model.<\/p>\n<p>Her appointment reflects the agency\u2019s continued focus on leadership, team\u00a0development,\u00a0and delivering growth for clients.<\/p>\n<p>Says Paige Wheaton, National Managing Director of Initiative Australia: \u201cYou don\u2019t always get the chance to bring someone back like this, so we\u2019re incredibly lucky to have Sarah rejoin us. She knows Initiative inside out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s a natural leader who brings energy, honesty and real commercial instinct to the table, and I couldn\u2019t think of a better person to\u00a0lead Initiative\u00a0in\u00a0Melbourne.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of her return to the business, O\u2019Leary says: \u201cOpportunities like this don\u2019t come along often. I\u2019ve watched Omnicom Oceania and Omnicom Media\u2019s evolution closely, and the chance to be part of what the business is building across the region was incredibly compelling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ambition is\u00a0clear;\u00a0the team is\u00a0exceptional\u00a0and there is genuine momentum behind the vision.\u00a0I\u2019m excited to\u00a0get started and\u00a0help drive the next phase of growth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bestadsontv.us1.list-manage.com\/subscribe\/post?u=ed15a80d7bf550af3872a36b1&amp;id=fbbdec6d80\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Register for FREE HERE<\/a>\u00a0and receive the Campaign Brief Daily Bulletin and\/or the global Best Ads Best of the Week Bulletin. \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/campaignbrief.partica.online\/campaign-brief-magazine\/campaign-brief-australia-summer-2025\/flipbook\/0\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe to Campaign Brief Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>#More Creative News\u00a0\u00a0 #No paywalls\u00a0\u00a0 #No annual membership fees<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.portfolioandreel.com\/shop\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe to Portfolio &amp; Reel<\/a>\u00a0for current listings of Australian and NZ ad agency and production company leadership and key personnel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"June 9 2026, 9:16 am | BY Ricki Green | No Comments Initiative Australia has announced the return&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-724072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}