Lee Stephens Email & Phone Number

Crafting Compelling Media Moments. At Meerkat, we simplify an impossibly complex media landscape by focusing on the moments that matter. We use media, technology and AI to create the most compelling media moments for your brand. We strive to be a force for good and make a positive impact for our clients, our people, and the environment. We champion greener principles in our media planning and advertising choices - without forgoing performance.

Giving Australian companies access to the world’s leading Artificial Intelligence tools and platforms. AI can be simple and affordable for businesses of all sizes. Accessing the best tools from around the world, we can help you drive productivity, margin and profit. Announcement of Australian launch in coming weeks.

Sydney, New South Wales, Au

EngageTV is an exciting new venture by Switch Digital. The EngageTV platform brings the accuracy and accountability to independent agencies and Australian TV advertisers. The result is better TV buying that is more targeted, has less wastage and you only pay for completed TV views.The platform includes CTV, BVOD and over 30 quality streaming platforms. The platform is brand safe, fraud free and the most innovative platform of its type in Australia.

Sydney, Nsw, Au

Strategically focused, data led, full service digital agency with offices in Sydney and Melbourne. Switch has assisted many companies structure and implement profitable digital operations. We are dedicated to the consumer regardless of their path to purchase and develop strategies accordingly.Since Switch's establishment in 2008, the team has grown to 50 people who enjoy the challenge of working with an independent agency that insists on being a leader in the areas we choose to tackle. Our strategic direction is completely redefined each year to meet the needs of consumers and their relationships with our clients.We employ people from many backgrounds, ages and talents to build a fun, fair place to do your best work. All we ask is that you want to be the best at what you do.

Tokyo, Jp

Looking after Aegis Media's interests in Australia and New Zealand including Carat (Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand), Apollo Marketing (Australia and New Zealand), OneDigital, Safecom, Synergy (NZ), iProspect and a range of diversified media interests.Essential to this role’s success was to develop and implement a digital transformation strategy across the entire AU/NZ business. The business lacked a reputation of progressiveness and struggled to demonstrate their digital credentials. This led to a limited new business pipeline and financial losses across the entire business in Australia and New Zealand.The first two years of the role was the difficult task of trimming the teams to reduce significant loses. The second part of the business was to rebuild the business and recruit a high performance team with a digital-first focus. This was achieved over 2 years through both acquisition and the introduction of Aegis’s global digital brands, Isobar and iProspect, to the local market. Having succeeded in the Pacific market, I was asked to custom a regional digital strategy to achieve their same result across APAC.The result was that Turkey and Australia were declared Aegis Media’s fastest turnaround markets globally, generating significant group profits. I could not have achieved this without over-communicating, being consistent in the messaging and objectives and having a fantastic team.I left the role when they purchased Mitchell Media and the role was taken over by Harold Mitchell.

Running a small public company (market cap $10M) and growing the group to a total capitalisation of around AUD$240 Million on my departure. The group managed approximately 20% of all digital display advertising within the Australian market, with billings increasing from AUD$12M to over AUD$71M during my tenure to deliver a AUD$8+M EBITDA in my final reporting period.The building of a high performance team was a fantastic experience and we all had a fantastic time, while working hard and delivering for our 100+ clients. Staff turnover was less than 20% per annum in a market typically incurring turnover of 40%+. Many of the emitch team remain close associates and friends.I left the business due to the public company being sold into a private company in 2007, and I was subsequently poached by Aegis Media.

Sydney, New South Wales, Au

Managing sales, marketing, commercial content development and production of the news sites of Fairfax Digital. Sites included www.smh.com.au and www.theage.com.au, www.afr.com.au and all non-classified advertising formats. I was also responsible for driving the success of the advertising sales team (excluding classifieds) for the entire network.Myself, along with the rest of the management team were able to bring Fairfax Digital to profit, after an initial investment of $150M over the previous 6 years. We all still consider this as one of our most rewarding achievements. At the time, the news sites attracted more monthly advertising revenues than almost any major news site worldwide due to initiatives we put in place that proved the value and result delivered across the network.

Selenium Interactive was created during the dot.com investment boom leading up to 2000 online industry crash. Funded by a modest investment by several prominent Australian investors. Selenium was only a small handful of home grown digital agencies. Within two Years we had over 50 staff with offices across Sydney, Melbourne and Hong Kong.Selenium built the first websites for www.greaterunion.com.au (now Event Cinemas), www.ticketek.com and www.tvsn.com.au and the regional business banking site for HSBC. Our revenues exceeded $10M per annum.The business ran close to break even most of the time, which was rare in a “land grab” investment market. Selenium was able to survive the dot com crash in 2000. Retracting investor support across the entire industry required us to sell to Web Connection based in Hong Kong, who were seeking the HSBC Business Banking banking account through acquisition. Our first priority was pay all staff and creditors which, as CEO, I was not comfortable with leaving liability. The decision to settle secured and unsecured liabilities was an important lesson in how important you’re reputation is with opportunities and relationships far into the future.

Sydney, New South Wales, Au

Various roles within print and digital. Most notably, part of the launch team of the print section of Domain and the team that built Good Living from a small Tuesday section to a 24 page colour lift out. While I was junior, I was given a lot of latitude and gained more experience, knowledge and skills that have bee invaluable across my entire career. The final role was as NSW Sales Manager for Fairfax Online. A difficult role, with knowledge of the Internet low, however the effort paid off to give me a head start in the digital media industry

B.Bus, Marketing

Education record