View Media Group executive chairman Antony Catalano has announced a number of exciting new appointments as the business continues its growth trajectory.
Mr Catalano said the group's partnership with ANZ bank was a key differentiator in the VBMG business strategy.
"The partnership provides the opportunity for us to play seriously in the financial services space and the changes announced today set the business up to maximise this opportunity and future growth." Mr Catalano said on Friday.
"Building out the real estate superstore-of-the-future is the centrepiece of our business plan and, within that, financial services is the largest category."
Sian Rowlands will step into a new managing director of financial services role to oversee VMG's partnership with ANZ and build out the brokerage offering, ensuring customers have access to the "best and easiest" financial services support.
Mr Catalano said pre-approving prospective buyers and providing specialist financial services support to existing mortgage holders was at the heart of VMG's vision to offer consumers a genuinely different and compelling alternative as we engage with them on the whole-of-life property journey.
Ms Rowlands had been part of the VMG strategy team for the past 12 months and had made a valuable contribution to the growth of VMG through acquisitions an planning.
Before joining VMG she worked at Domain as director of commercial strategy, planning and growth. She subsequently joined Different, a scale-up technology business in the property management space to support the growth strategy of the business.
Strong experience
Damon Pezaro would oversee product strategy and development for VMG as the chief product officer.
Mr Pezaro was a key driver of the growth realised at Domain, leading the company's product development, which under his leadership became the No.1 property app in the country.
Since leaving Domain in 2017 he had worked across multiple local and international high-growth businesses in the capacity of chief product officer.
Jordy Catalano, would move from the chief product officer role, which he has occupied since the public launch late last year, into an exciting new role as director of consumer services and markets.
As CPO for VMG, Jordy had made many critically important product changes and improvements that have seen View.com.au's audience increase significantly and cemented View's position as the clear No.3 portal with audiences approaching 2 million per month.
His new role leverages the skills he displayed as the co-founder of AD Group where he built products and partnerships that tapped into multiple facets of the off-the-plan market.
The role will have a consumer first focus building out a deep understanding of our users and providing unrivalled services across all adjacencies to ensure consumers enjoy a seamless experience as we simplify all aspects of the property market.
Building the business
Barrie Bowles has been appointed digital and data director across View Media Group and would lead the digital and data strategy for the group.
Mr Bowles moved from being digital lead of property media and tech agency The Today Business, to become digital and data director sitting across VMG, where his 20 years in media, marketing, data and advertising/property tech will provide the right experience for success.
The newly created role focused on driving owned asset audience growth and maximisation of digital and data capability and opportunity for VMG businesses, partners, and clients.
He would continue to work in product development from a digital advertising and data targeting perspective, particularly across Agent and Vendor products, and would drive innovation, synchronisation and commercial opportunity for VMG and its partners.
Mr Bowles would also continue to work with The Today Business, supporting clients on digital strategy and performance outcomes.
Emily Rayner will head up content for VMG with initial focus on View.com.au's content strategy as head of content.
Ms Rayner is a seasoned digital content professional with over two decades of experience in media production and content management, driving audience engagement and brand growth across multiple platforms.
Her career has included key roles with major broadcasters, internationally and nationally such as BBC, ITV, Southern Cross Austereo and Nova, where she pioneered digital content and social strategies that significantly boosted audience engagement.
She was also a key player in the growth of Domain's content strategy and served as the executive editor at Domain Group, overseeing Domain Prestige, Commercial Property, and Domain Weekly Review until 2018.
Antony Catalano, the father of Jordy Catalano, is the executive chairman of VMG as well as ACM, which is the publisher of this newspaper.
