AA appoints Baroness as chief executive and DG

The Advertising Association (AA) has appointed Peta Buscombe as its new chief executive and director-general following the retirement of Andrew Brown after more than a decade in the role.

Baroness Buscombe is currently Shadow Minister for Education and Skills in the House of Lords, but plans to step down this year.

She will take up her new role in January after Brown leaves at the end of this year.

AA chairman Mark Lund, who led the hunt for Brown’s successor, says Buscombe brings both an in-depth knowledge of the advertising industry and the workings of government to the role.

Buscombe practised law before becoming a legal advisor to the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA).

More recently, she was the opposition spokesman in the House of Lords for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) having previously been spokesman for trade and industry.

Brown joined the AA in 1993 after 28 years with ad agency JWT, where he rose to board director level.

He will retain, on a part-time basis, his chairmanship of the Committee of Advertising Practice and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice.

He will also remain a director of the Advertising Standards Board of Finance and the Broadcasting Standards Board of Finance.