New CEO appointment leads Magic's refreshed leadership team

Independent media agency Magic has today introduced the new leadership team, led by Shahram Ghaffurian's appointment as CEO.

New appointments also include Bernie Cullen as head of media, Sarah Baskerville as head of growth, and the promotion of Sam Terminelli to head of strategy.

Ghaffurian says: “Each of these new leadership roles will be key contributors to the realisation of our growth and expansion goals in this pivotal new chapter for Magic, driven by the success of our unique Mediamatics approach. Until now, Magic has been relatively quiet in market and fuelled by organic growth driven by the industry-leading performance outcomes and service excellence.”

As a founder of Magic and the previous head of media, Ghaffurian came up with the term ‘Mediamatics’, an approach that prioritises the quantifiability and traceability of media investments via mathematics.

Cullen joins Magic as head of media with 16 years of experience, most recently at GroupM where she was head of delivery for Victoria and South Australia.

At Magic, Cullen will drive the Mediamatics approach in how the agency plans and buys digital media for its clients.

Baskerville joins Magic with two decades’ experience as a strategic partner and leader of transformative growth in digital marketing, previously working with Vibrance, News Corp, GumGum, Ansible, Bauer Media, and Fairfax.

Baskerville said: “Magic’s organic growth to date shows just how strong the market appetite is for a new approach and I could not be happier to be on the journey to realise Magic’s growth potential.”

Terminelli, having joined Magic in 2021, will deliver data-led approaches across both owned and advertising channels to drive measurable impact on business
performance. 

Ghaffurian said: “This new, highly experienced team represents a turning point in the next phase of Magic's growth and we are excited to see what the future brings.”

See also: Magic wins Sophos with Alchemy methodology