Bastion Shine promotes Toby Sellers to CEO as Simon Curran steps down to pursue new venture

Bastion Shine has announced the promotion of managing director Toby Sellers (above left) to the role of CEO as Simon Curran (right) steps down as CEO to embark upon a new personal opportunity in the U.S.

Sellers will fill the role left vacant by Curran effective immediately, and will report to Cheuk Chiang, CEO, ANZ for Bastion.

Sellers joined Bastion Shine in 2022 as managing director of the creative business. Sellars is a senior agency leader with 25 years of experience working in New Zealand and the UK with leading global companies.  His career began at DDB Aotearoa before moving to DDB London (now Adam & Eve DDB). While in London he also spent time with Havas and McCann.

Returning to New Zealand in 2011, Sellars joined FCB where he spent 11 years in senior roles and was promoted to managing director in 2019.

Sellers is known for building high-performing work cultures and long-term client partnerships that deliver sustained business success. He’s also an advocate for the power that creativity can bring to a business when a transformational idea is adopted into the heart of an organisation.

His leadership and experience in integrated marketing groups will be crucial as Bastion Shine continues to drive forward its mission of empowering people, brands and organisations.

Says Chiang: “Toby’s expertise and strong leadership will be critical as we grow, diversify our business, forge stronger client connections and deliver our ambition of being the best network in New Zealand (and the world). He has a passion for innovation, client success and love for the work and we are thrilled to have him take the helm.”

Curran co-founded Bastion Shine with his then business partner, Lucien Law, from their Parnell flat in 2005. Over the last 20 years, Curran led the business to expand into new services (PR, digital, events, executive coaching and consultancy services), launch new businesses, grow into new markets, and establish deep enduring partnerships with many of New Zealand’s most successful businesses, cementing Bastion Shine as one of Aotearoa’s leading independent agencies.

Curran leaves Bastion Shine to explore a new opportunity outside the industry.  He will remain a shareholder and a non-executive board member of the Bastion Group.

Says Curran: “I’m super proud of the journey and consider myself incredibly lucky to work with the calibre of people I have over the last 20 years,” said Simon.

Says Chiang: “We are deeply grateful for Simon’s extraordinary dedication and leadership and want to acknowledge the incredible journey and contribution he has made to building the successful business we are today. His unwavering commitment and entrepreneurial spirit have left and will continue to leave an indelible mark on all of us.”

The Bastion Group wish Curran and his family all the best for their next chapter ahead.

Says Sellers: “I’m excited by this opportunity. I have big shoes to fill: Simon has done a fantastic job leading the agency, creating a high-performing, entrepreneurial culture and mindset that has attracted top talent and clients. I want to build on this legacy as we enter, what I believe to be, a dynamic and complex time for our industry that will fundamentally transform how we work with clients and engage with their audiences. From insight generation to content creation and even more personalised audience engagement, we will have a raft of new capabilities to help clients capitalise on these new technologies. I feel extremely fortunate to be leading the agency through this transformational period.”