Google ends five-month search for ANZ head

Google has ended its five-month-long search for a regional managing director with the appointment of media executive Nick Leeder.

Leeder [pictured] was to join Google Australia and New Zealand in late March, after having worked as COO of News Digital Media, Deputy CEO of the Australian and at Fairfax and McKinsey & Co.

He replaced Karim Temsamani, who moved to Mountain View to head up Google's global mobile sales from 1 October last year.

Like Leeder, Temsamani joined Google from a publishing background in 2007. He was formerly Fairfax General Magazines group director, and held several other publishing positions in Sydney, Korea and Hong Kong.

Google's president of Asia Pacific and Japan, Daniel Alegre, today announced that Leeder had joined "at an exciting time for our business and for the digital economy in Australia and New Zealand".

"In the next year, Nick will help us to increase our investment locally and better serve our users, advertisers, and partners," Alegre said.

The company currently had 107 vacancies in its Sydney, Australia headquarters, according to its LinkedIn page. In November, it sought 47 staff in Sydney and more than 2,000 worldwide.

Leeder had a degree in pure mathematics from the University of Sydney, and a Masters in Business Administration from INSEAD in France.

He was expected to take up the managing director role in late March.