NABS Appoints New Trustee Karla Smith, Bids Farewell to Andrew Harris

NABS, the support organisation for the advertising and media industry, has appointed a new trustee to add to the considerable experience of its executive board.

Karla Smith, finance director at Ogilvy UK, joins the board as its newest trustee and treasurer. Karla, a qualified chartered accountant, brings with her nearly 20 years of commercial experience. She has spent 11 years at Ogilvy, where she currently leads a finance function of 34.

The finance expert joins NABS at an exciting time, as the organisation embarks upon a new strategic phase of investment to ensure its sustainability. Demands for NABS’ services continue to rise and in Q1 alone NABS awarded double the number of grants to its beneficiaries in comparison to the same period last year.

Karla’s achievements at Ogilvy include transforming its internal financial reporting and collaborating with senior leaders to help the organisation embrace new technologies and ways of working. As NABS looks to widen its reach throughout the industry with the use of technology, Karla’s experience will bring a huge boost to the team.

Karla says: “NABS does vital and life-changing work for our industry and its people. I’ve joined the board because I want to help NABS continue the invaluable support it gives to those in advertising and media. I’m looking forward to working with the team as NABS enters its next phase of development, reimagining the industry and providing smarter ways of serving it.”

As treasurer, Karla will be responsible for monitoring all aspects of the organisation’s financial operations and reporting. She will ensure NABS’ sustainability through the effective management of its fundraising and investment activities, and how it develops and delivers new services in response to industry demand. She joins NABS chairman Simon Daglish, deputy managing director commercial ITV, on the board.

Karla replaces Andrew Harris, who resigns from the board having come to the end of his term. Andrew steps down from his role as treasurer and chair of the finance and investments committee after three years with NABS.

Andrew says: “Serving on the NABS Board has been a joy; it’s been great to see the organisation expand so much and to see how the industry is calling upon its services more and more. NABS really is a wonderful asset to the industry. I wish the team all the best for the future.”

Diana Tickell, CEO of NABS, says: “I’d like to give a huge thanks Andrew for his invaluable work on the NABS Board over the past three years. His brilliant financial leadership and broader business experience has helped to strengthen our financial strategy to the point where we are able to expand and develop our services. His astute and enterprising perspective has served us extremely well and we’ll always be grateful for his time, his guidance and his generosity.

“Andrew will be a hard act to follow but I’m hugely excited to be welcoming Karla on board. Karla has a mass of first-class financial expertise, coupled with a first-hand understanding of the advertising and media industry. Karla also espouses all of NABS’ values and as such she brings so much value to the role of treasurer. I’m looking forward to working with her as NABS enters a new strategic phase.”