Mark Coad appointed Dubai Lynx first Media jury president

Mark has 16 years of experience in media, having joined the industry after completing a BA in Business, with majors in Applied Economics and Quantitative Analysis. The first three years of his career were spent at Total Media, where he worked on accounts including Myer/Grace Bros. and Advic, the Victorian Government master media account. From there, Mark moved to Y&R as Group Media Director and then on to DDB where he gained valuable strategic skills, primarily on Telstra. Whilst heading up the Melbourne operation of Mediaedge:cia Mark used his progressive and versatile skills while working on Dunlop, Goodyear, TAG HEUER and Sony Ericsson.

Early in 2003, Mark was appointed Managing Director of OMD Melbourne where in just over two-and-a-half years he increased the business nearly threefold, with the staff alone increasing from 9 to 51. In October 2006, Mark took on the role as head of OMD Australia. Under his stewardship in the last 12 months, the agency has continued its focus on people and product. The agency has won multiple awards including finalists at Australia's MFA and Cannes Lions, and has just been announced as a finalist in Australia's 2007 Media Agency of the Year.

His mission at OMD is to drive an agency culture that reflects the chemistry of business, trading and strategic ingredients, designed to form valuable partnerships with clients in order to achieve their business objectives.

"We are delighted to have Mark join our line up of illustrious jury presidents and chair the first ever Dubai Lynx Media competition. Mark is a skilful leader with a track record of building strong Media businesses. He will bring to the role a thorough understanding of state of the art Media execution," said Philip Thomas, CEO of Cannes Lions, organisers of Dubai Lynx.

Commenting on his appointment, Mark Coad said, "To be invited to preside over the first Media jury at the Dubai International Advertising Festival is a terrific privilege, and I look forward to spending time with my international media colleagues to find the best of the best, and show-case our wonderful craft."