Tania will lead the team responsible for Group M, Andrew for Omnicom and Denstu Aegis, and Tom will be responsible for Havas, IPG and Vivaki Publicis.
Each Business Partner will lead a multidisciplinary team of display, branded content, programmatic experts and account managers, and drive agency business and client services with impactful, effective cross-functional advertising solutions, says the Guardian. They will report into the commercial director Nick Hewat.
Nick Hewat, commercial director, Guardian News & Media: “I’m delighted to welcome Tania, Andrew and Tom to the team into these key new roles. We have realigned the commercial team to deliver the best possible results and service for clients and bring our platform for action proposition to life. The Business Partners will play a pivotal role and I couldn’t be more excited to announce our new hires - they are strategic, smart and have an impressive set of experience and results to bring to the table.”
Tania Harwood said: “I’m thrilled to be joining The Guardian and look forward to creating powerful strategies for brands on such an influential platform.”
Andrew Goldsmith said: “The Guardian is one of the world’s most influential news brands and it’s an exciting time to be joining. I’m eager to get started and deliver effective and impactful brand campaigns that set new industry standards.”
Tom Crichton said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be joining such a renowned global brand as the Guardian - especially at a time when demand for independent quality journalism has never been higher.”
Tania joins from Initiative, where she is currently Group Client Director responsible for major client relationships and pitches - including successfully winning Travelodge, Mothercare and Harley-Davidson. She has over 20 years media experience and worked at JWT, CDP, OMD and Initiative. She has experience in creating multi-channel communications plans across many sectors and has worked alongside creative partners on AXA, Royal Mail, Nestlé, Honda, Peugeot, Sony, Intel and Hasbro. She joins on 3 January.
Andrew has over 15 years media sales experience - starting at Dennis Publishing before moving to Time Inc (then IPC Media) where he worked across some of their biggest titles including Loaded and NME and was part of the team that launched Nuts. He moved to Global Radio as Agency Director before taking up his current sales director role at Primesight where he runs agency and client strategy, trading and planning. He joins on 1 February.
Tom will be leaving his role at Mediavest where he has been a Business Director for over five years. Prior to this he was an account director working with top clients across a range of verticals including finance, travel, retail, entertainment and charities. With a total of over 15 years media agency experience Tom has extensive experience leading a variety of brand & performance clients including BT, Capital One, Royal London, Travelodge, British Gas, Pizza Hut, Skyscanner, Flybe, Yahoo, RNIB, Centrepoint, and Premier Foods. Tom joins on 1 February.
