Pandora hires Fairfax’s Chris Freel as commercial director

Music streaming service Pandora has hired Fairfax Media’s national agency sales director Chris Freel to be its commercial director.

Mumbrella revealed back in August that Pandora, which claims more than 3m registered Australian users, was searching for a commercial director following the departure of Jon Stubley.

Freel has been at Fairfax for six years, holding a number of roles including national sales director, NSW agency director and agency group director.

Jane Huxley, managing director of Pandora Australia and New Zealand, said Freel’s appointment was one of a number of new hires, which also include Annaliese Van Riet, as human resources director, Nina Ta in the newly created legal director role and Rachel Page, who joins to lead the Melbourne sales team as state sales director.