Mindshare appoints James Greet as CEO for Australia, replacing John Petropoulos

The appointment is effective in June. Current CEO, John Petropoulos, is set to step down from the media agency after 12 years.

Greet has spent over 20 years in the media business and has done stints in the UK and China. He has been in Australia since 2002 and was previously with OMD. In 2006, he left OMD to set up The Ladder.

On his appointment, Ashutosh Srivastava (pictured), CEO, Mindshare Asia-Pacific, said: “James comes to Mindshare with a very strong track record in developing talent into high performance, collaborative teams. His grasp of the changing needs of Australian marketers from the media and marketing industry, combined with his strong track record in moulding talent into high performance, collaborative teams, made him an outstanding candidate for the leadership role.”

On his decision to join Mindshare, Greet added: "Whilst I've thoroughly enjoyed running my own business, I have also missed being immersed within the business of media. Technology is changing the landscape at a rapid rate which has made for an even more exciting environment than the one I left only three years ago. Hence the opportunity to jump back in and work with some terrific clients and talented individuals for one of the world's smartest communications companies here in Australia is simply too good to miss."

Separately, Mark McCraith, currently GM of Mindshare Melbourne will assume the role of managing director of its Melbourne office and will be reporting directly to Greet.

Managing director of Mindshare Sydney, Tracie Michael, will also report to Greet.