Media and marketing consultancy NewBase has named Lesley Conway as its new president overseeing operations in Canada and Latin America.

Conway took over on Monday from Wayne St. John, who filled the same role under the title of managing director. St. John is now retiring.

Conway will be based in Toronto, but is responsible for the company’s planned expansions into markets south of the United States.

She had been serving as a private consultant since June 2017. Prior to that, she held senior sales roles with Astral Media and Bell Media, was general manager of CHUM radio sales in Toronto and was chair of the Radio Marketing Bureau from 2007 to 2010.

NewBase’s Canadian team (it also has an office in Vancouver) specializes in selling non-Canadian audiences to mid-size Canadian advertisers through traditional, digital and programmatic media. The independently owned firm has offices in 30 countries worldwide and exclusive deals to sell U.S. and global audiences for The New York Times, Meredith, Tronc and CBS, among others.

It also provides custom back-end solutions for clients that may not have “the scale or financial appetite” to build a programmatic desk, Conway told MiC on her first day in the corner office.

Newbase has had a South American operation since 1980 when it opened an office in Miami, Florida. However, Conway said it has recently refocused on Latin American markets, opening offices in Bogota, Colombia and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

“Canada really punches above its weight in the NewBase network,” said Conway. “It was in Toronto that we created the global trading desk that supports all our offices. [NewBase] Canada has been an innovator.”

Conway reports to global CEO Joerg Nuernberg.