SAARF Names Clare O'Neil First Female Chair

The South Africa Advertising Research Foundation (SAARF) has elected media veteran Clare O'Neil as its new Chair, replacing Sarel du Plessis who has held the title since 2007. She is the first woman to hold the position.

O'Neil, who has a 30-year media background, is currently the co-owner and a Director of outdoor media firm MMAP, and has been a non-executive Director of President Jacob Zuma's SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) Board since 2010.

After working for M-Net for several years, latterly as GM of Oracle Airtime Sales, O'Neil joined the Midi Consortium as Commercial Sales Director of e.tv. She then became MD of media agency Initiative, before joining the SABC as GP Television Sales and Marketing.

Commenting on her new role, she said: 'Made up as it is of representatives of every constituent within the media, marketing and advertising industries, the SAARF Board is uniquely placed to play a hands-on role in identifying future challenges and trends in the industry which will have an impact on SAARF and its work, and to then make plans accordingly.'

Du Plessis is the CEO of the Marketing Association of South Africa, and previously served as Regional CEO of Newspapers: Northern regions for Media24.

Web site: www.saarf.co.za .