Maxus Asia Pacific has appointed Nathan Cook as head of trading. Cook joins as Simon Porter, the former Maxus APAC head of trading moves to the Maxus Global team as deputy global trading director.
Prior to the role, he was the National Trading Director based in Melbourne, overseeing the investment and negotiations for key accounts including Fiat Chrysler, Jetstar, Hungry Jack’s, Suzuki, Uniqlo, Unicharm, iSelect and Aldi.
Cook has 17 years of experience in the Australia/New Zealand markets across business development, trading, negotiations, staff training and media commentary. In his various roles within GroupM agencies, he has worked across Automotive, Telecommunications, FCMG, Health, Retail and Travel categories on many iconic Australian and global brands. He has been a part of the Maxus Australia Executive Committee since 2014; also a part of the GroupM Aspire training community since 2010.
In his new role, he will be working closely with Nick Binns, CIO GroupM APAC and will lead the trading and investment product for clients across the APAC market, supported by Anita Munro (regional trading director) and Scotty Ho (associate trading director), bringing the best in class capability of GroupM trading to Maxus’ client base.
Maxus APAC CEO Ajit Varghese says: “Cook is an excellent and deserving candidate to advance into this role, bringing a proven track record in driving value for clients and several years of experience in Australia, a key market for Maxus. He has a wealth of cross-category experience and his calm, focused approach will prove a great asset for managing both internal and external stakeholders across cultural regions.”
Cook said, “The Asia Pacific region is the fastest evolving market in terms of consumer behaviour and media landscape and I am very excited to be part of a world-class team helping lead clients through this change. Simon Porter has built a fantastic trading product with the support of his team and I look forward to continuing to build upon this great foundation.”
