Change as a Continuum

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I’m constantly struck by how exciting our industry is right now. Having just chaired the Arthur W. Page Annual Conference, it was apparent that digital and social technologies are having a significant impact across all businesses and the communications function is front and center both strategically and tactically. It’s not surprising then that the Text100 leadership team and I are constantly looking at how we invest to ensure we have the right talent and right services in place to constantly push our thinking and ensure we stay one step ahead of this continually changing field.

We’ve been on this digital transformation journey for several years now and we have made important progress. We were recently named Digital Agency of the Year in APAC and we have also been nominated for the same honor globally. Our recent wins with Vodafone, Staples and several other key clients are due in part to our digital strategy. But there is much more we need to do. As a result, we’ve transferred Jeremy Woolf, our Global Digital Practice lead, from Hong Kong to New York where he can have an even bigger impact on our business. We’ve also just hired Peter DiBart as our VP and Digital Practice lead for North America.

We’ve  also doubled-down on some of the investments we’ve been making in the business.  To that end, we’ve very recently established Digital Design and Content Hubs in our offices in Germany and Malaysia to support our clients on a global basis with design services, content generation and distribution capabilities.

In the wake of these and other important decisions we made at our global leadership meeting, we subsequently had two senior leaders in our business decide it was time for them to move on. Earlier this summer, Scott Friedman, our NA Regional Director and Steven Murphy, APAC North Regional Director, both decided after nearly a decade each at Text100, it was time to think about other career opportunities. Scott will leave the business at the end of this month. Steven will leave in November. Both will be missed, and both were very generous in agreeing to stay on board for months after their initial decisions to support the transition of their roles.

Having these well-planned departures has given me the opportunity to rethink my global leadership team. What’s the best structure, who are the right individuals and where should they be based to drive and focus the business on digital? So today I’m announcing that we’re streamlining our global Executive Leadership Team.

Rowan Benecke, who had been Regional Director in EMEA, will move to North America and take over as Regional Director from New York. Anne Costello will take over the role of Regional Director leading all of our APAC business from Sydney. Cecile Missildine who has been a Managing Consultant in France, will assume the EMEA Regional Director role based in Paris. Sarah MacKenzie, who had been EMEA North RD, and is presently on maternity leave, will return in October to a new role as EVP in EMEA driving client consultancy and global marketing. Lastly, Laurie Eisendrath will assume the role of global CFO.

I’ve cherished the time I’ve had to work with both Steven and Scott and appreciate the value they’ve brought to Text100 over the years. But I’m also really looking forward to seeing how the dynamic changes we’re making will drive the growth of the company in the coming years.