Bastion Creative appoints Susan Bird to managing partner role to lead Melbourne operations

In a period of significant business growth with several recent new business wins including Cancer Council Victoria, The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Reece, Green Cross Health and Catalano Interiors, Bastion Creative has announced the appointment of Susan Bird (above left) as managing partner to lead its creative practice in Melbourne.

Bird is one of several high profile, senior hires the business has made to bolster the national leadership of thecCreative business. These hires have included Angela Morris (national chief strategy officer), Simon Langley (national group chief creative officer) and Ana Lynch (Sydney managing partner).

Prior to joining Bastion, Bird held the positions of client partner and general manager at AJF for over a decade, during which time she was instrumental in building one of Australia’s biggest, most effective agencies, leading some of AJF’s largest client relationships including Officeworks, Specsavers, Bega, Australian National Preventative Health Agency (ANPHA), Bendigo Bank and Brown Brothers.

Says Mike Godwin (above right), national managing director, Bastion Creative: “I’ve actually tried to hire Susan, or Sooze as she likes to be called, on several occasions, but the timing or the opportunity was never right – you must be persistent when it comes to the industry’s best talent! I’m so pleased that this time around, our stars have aligned, and the opportunity and timing is right for both Sooze and for us here at Bastion.

“Sooze is first and foremost a warm, engaging, and all-round lovely person, who’ll make a critical contribution in attracting, nurturing, and building on a super talented pool and helping maintain the positive culture we’re proud of. Externally, her passion is to help build and lead positive client relationships – she cares about the health of her clients’ businesses and brands and her track record in this space is as among the industry’s best. After watching her do this from afar, I’m very excited that we can do it together now! And I know our team and our clients will feel the same.”

About her appointment, Bird says: “I am thrilled to be leading Bastion Creative in Melbourne and to be joining a rapidly growing and talented team. I am also truly excited to be partnering with our wider team of co-located specialists, a model which enables us to deliver more connected and compelling brand experiences that deliver great results for our clients.”