Wildstone doubles local headcount as demand grows for sale and leaseback model in Australia

Wildstone has expanded its Australian team with three senior hires, doubling its local workforce just one year after launching operations in the market.

The appointments include Scott Sargeant as commercial director, Zaneta Pawlik as strategy and operations director and Crystal Ku as senior legal counsel. The hires bring the total local headcount to six, reflecting growing interest in Wildstone’s sale and leaseback model for Australian's OOH operators.

Sargeant joins from Ohh Media, where he spent more than 17 years in roles spanning sales, product management and commercial negotiations. He will be responsible for expanding Wildstone’s national billboard portfolio through acquisitions, partnerships and site digitisation. Pawlik also brings deep OOH experience from both Ooh Media and Primesight and most recently led media, product and client success for Dentsu APAC. At Wildstone, she will drive local growth while aligning operations with global strategy.

Ku brings some 12 years of legal real estate experience, including senior roles at Aqualand Australia, Herbert Smith Freehills and Lendlease. She becomes Wildstone Australia’s first in-house legal hire, taking over contractual responsibilities previously managed by the UK head office.

Noel Cook, Wildstone managing director for Australia, said the hires mark a significant milestone for the business locally.

“Wildstone’s sale and leaseback model has been extremely successful in the UK and I’m pleased to see that same traction here in Australia,” Cook said. “In just 12 months, we’ve secured two deals, with several more in the pipeline and have attracted top talent to help us scale.”

The company, which owns more than 5,400 outdoor advertising assets globally, partners with media operators under long-term agreements. Its sale and leaseback model allows media owners to sell traditional sites to Wildstone, which then funds the digital upgrade and leases the site back to the original operator, freeing up capital and unlocking digital revenue opportunities.