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Universal McCann managing director Trista Grant is leaving the agency to join McCann-Erickson Sydney.

Her brief will be to review the media operations of McCann’s Australian agencies in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Grant joined McCann-Erickson in London in 1989; she became managing director of its media operation, Universal McCann, last year. Grant has had a string of new business successes – including BSkyB, Esso, COI Cinema, Entertainment Film Distributors and Tower Records.

She will be replaced by TV director Mick Perry, who becomes vice chairman, and planning directors Fiona Smedley and Chris Shaw, who become joint managing directors.

Australian agencies largely follow the full service agency model, though there are some media independent operations.

“The media independent model may not be appropriate for Australia – it is a very different kind of media market to the UK,” she says.

She will not say whether she intends to introduce a Universal-style media centralisation for Australasia, but she expects her remit to go beyond Australia in the future, to Asia and the Pacific Rim.