Emap creates group commercial director role

David Hipkiss, trading director at Emap Advertising, has been appointed to the new role of commercial director for the Emap group. He will initially handle the role on a six month secondment to assess the size and scale of commerical opportunity” within the group.

Hipkiss, who takes over the role imminently, will continue to act as a negotiations advisor on key deals but will now focus on the implementation of the a new group procurement strategy and new business acquisitions. He will also be looking to reduce costs across the group by consolidating spend.

The changes mean that John Judge, head of radio trading, and Mark Hassall, agency director will now report to Karen Stacey, broadcast sales director, and Richard Hayes, head of magazine trading, will report to magazine sales director, Jason Trout.

Hipkiss joined Emap in 1998 as part of its “On Air” sales team and has been on the board at Emap Advertising since its launch in 2000. He has previously held roles at Vizeum, WCRS and ITV Sales.