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KTG Sports & Entertainment Global CEO, Matt Manning, has announced a number of changes to the agency’s Australian leadership structure, highlighted by the extension of current managing director, Matt Connell’s role across the APAC region.

The other leadership moves include Jarrad Provis as the new general manager of marketing strategy, Jeremy Francis as the new chief operating officer, and Stephanie Rudnick set to run the agency’s global communications efforts, while also heading the newly developed hospitality and events arm.

Announcing the changes, Manning said the MKTG has set the standard of excellence across the industry.

“Australia is an important and exciting market for MKTG and dentsu, and Matt (Connell) has done a fantastic job over the last five years building out a great team and an evolved service offering,” Manning said.

“I also applaud the leadership for diversifying its capabilities from what was a successful sports and entertainment business, to setting the industry standard across commercial rights, product innovation, and delivery excellence that is providing meaningful impact and value to all of its partners and clients,” he said.

Discussing the year ahead of the MKTG Australia team, Connell said: “2021 represents a significant milestone for the MKTG Australia team.”

“We are beginning a new chapter for our business as a core player in the formal combination of MKTG sports and entertainment and dentsu Sports International.

“We are confident that together we will exceed in delivering new opportunities and value to clients and partners across the local MKTG and dentsu ANZ business and beyond.

“Over the last five years, we have made a substantial investment in both product innovation and hiring the best talent to help solidify MKTG ANZ as the most respected and dependable sports and entertainment business in the region.

“Despite the challenges of the last 12 months, our nimble business model, access to resources driven by our incredibly talented team allowed us to pivot and create solutions that delivered great results for our clients.

“We could not be in a stronger position to embark on the next era of our business thanks to our clients who believe in our team, now strengthened with the addition of someone of Steph’s (Rudnick) experience and background,” he said.

The new positions attained by both Provis and Francis were labelled as internal promotions, meanwhile Rudnick was relocated from New York, where she worked as the former head of public relations for the American football league, the XFL.