Joseph Aquilina joins Vice Media as Sr director & head of experience

VICE Media Group (VMG) today announced the hiring of Joseph Aquilina as senior director and head of experience throughout the Middle East and Africa (MEA).

Aquilina will be based in Dubai and will be part of VMG's global and regional leadership team. He will be responsible for driving growth throughout VMG's experiential offering in the Middle East and Africa, utilising the Group's unrivalled experience in connecting and engaging with youth audiences, as well as exploiting the company's unique insights and proven performance in the area. Aquilina will work closely with Virtue, VICE's creative agency, to maximise prospects throughout the VMG ecosystem in her new role.

"Joe is a creative powerhouse who brings with him a lot of expertise and will be a key member of the leadership team as we aim to expand and build our company across MEA," said Erik Lavoie, partner at VICE Media Group. The region's basis is experimentation and innovation, which provides fertile ground for VICE Media Group as we grow our Experiential offering, delivering both virtual and real-world events that leverage the unique insights and audience reach that only VMG can offer."

"I am happy to be joining the leadership team as part of this new and innovative branch of the business," Aquilina said of his appointment. VICE is at the cutting edge of what's next in media, entertainment, and journalism, breaking new ground in connecting people together and empowering innovators to move the world forward. I'm delighted to continue pushing the boundaries of traditional experience forms, aided by the strong 360° VICE ecosystem."

Aquilina reports to Erik Lavoie, partner at VMG and chief growth officer at Virtue, with a dotted line to Tarek Khalil, Virtue's managing director of the area.

Aquilina comes to VMG from the creative experience firm LIGHTBLUE, where he was most recently the head of partnerships. He formerly headed worldwide commercial relationships at Red Bull Media House.