
His appointment follows the recent restructure of the NI commercial team that saw the trading director, Dominic Carter, promoted to the new role of commercial director.
The creative solutions director, Abba Newbery, took the role of director of advertising strategy, and the business intelligence director, Claire Myerscough, and sales support director, Patricia Kill, were appointed to interim roles on six-month and 21-month contracts respectively.
The director of commercial strategy, Neil Jones, and the sales innovation director, David German, are leaving the company.
NI is looking for a trading director to work alongside Dowds. It has also appointed its head of business analytics, Steve Bottomley, to the role of business services director.