The former Riviera Travel chief customer and strategy officer will take on the role later this year.
Simon Michaelides has been named ISBA’s new director general, taking over from predecessor Phil Smith who held the role for eight years.
Michaelides is currently interim chief customer officer at Great British Racing and previously worked with ISBA between 2020 and 2023 as a non-executive director and council member. He will step into the role later this year.
An experienced C-suite marketer, he began his career at P&G and PepsiCo before taking on roles including chief commercial officer at UKTV, chief marketing and innovation officer at BBC Studios UK, and chief customer and strategy officer at Riviera Travel.
As director general, Michaelides – twice-named a Marketing Week Top 100 Most Effective Marketer – will be tasked with setting the organisation’s strategic direction and helping marketers navigate a changing advertising landscape.
“It’s an absolute honour to have the opportunity to lead such a prestigious organisation, and to represent and give-back to an industry that I love,” he says.
“Phil is an incredibly tough act to follow, but I look forward to working with the ISBA team, the council and the members to ensure that ISBA remains as relevant and impactful going forward as it has been over the last 125 years.”
Current ISBA president Pete Markey, former CMO at Boots UK, describes Michaelides as having a “wealth of experience across a range of sectors and an impressive track record of driving businesses forward”.
“He is passionate about the marketing industry, making him exactly the right person to lead ISBA as it continues to represent the voice of advertisers. I am really looking forward to working with Simon and am sure ISBA’s future is in very safe hands,” Markey adds.
Describing himself as looking forward to working with Michaelides, IPA director general Paul Bainsfair expects to “collaborate closely” with the ISBA team on a “huge variety of cross-industry issues”.
“I’d also like to thank Phil for his remarkable tenure as ISBA director general. The past eight years have thrown up some unique challenges, both within the industry and for the wider economy, and there is no doubt that his hard work has been crucial in helping the industry go from strength to strength despite these difficult circumstances,” Bainsfair adds.
Outgoing director general Phil Smith spoke to Marketing Week about his time at the helm of ISBA in an interview published earlier this month. Read it here.
