Diana Marszalek 25 Jan 2022 // 5:05AM GMT
BOSTON — The Hoffman Agency has appointed Lewis Global’s Gerard LaFond as the agency’s North America chief digital officer.
LaFond’s position is a new one for Hoffman. His charge is transforming the agency’s North American business into a digital first operation, a process already underway in Asia Pacific and Europe.
LaFond will also be opening a new Boston office, giving the agency a presence on the East Coast. The firm's other US offices are San Jose, California and Portland, Oregon.
LaFond joins after three years with Lewis, where he served as digital practice lead and Boston general manager. Before that, he was a digital leader at Weber Shandwick and Cone Communications.
“Today’s clients increasingly want help addressing pain points which calls for more than earned media,” said CEO Lou Hoffman. “We’ve leaned into digital and content for some time, but hiring Gerard signals full immersion, pass the snorkel.”
LaFond joins Hoffman following a banner 2021 for the agency, during which it grew more than 30% with more than $20 million in revenue.
“We intend to gain the scale required to take on virtually any communications assignment in the tech industry. While it’s still early days in 2022, we’re on track for another year of strong growth,” Hoffman said.