Maja Pawinska Sims 25 Mar 2021 // 12:47PM GMT
LONDON — Ketchum has strengthened its UK leadership team, with CEO Jo-ann Robertson promoting three directors to support her in leading the London business as she takes on her additional global client solutions role.
Managing director of client experience James Coyle, who joined the agency in 2019 from client Samsung, where he was head of PR, becomes chief client officer; partner and COO Deirdre Murphy, who has been with Ketchum for 20 years, becomes head of global client experience for Ketchum’s largets client, P&G, and across EMEA; and deputy MD of brand Alicia Solanki, who has been with the firm for 16 years, becomes managing director of client experience.
Robertson told PRovoke Media: “I’ve been thinking about the UK structure since I took on my additional responsibilities, and it’s a real opportunity to elevate those who have driven Ketchum in the UK forward during a really challenging time.”
She said Murphy (pictured, right) had been her “partner in crime” for the past 10 years: “Deirdre is an incredible consultant at getting under the skin of what clients need and bringing together the best of Ketchum across multiple geographies and brands for our biggest clients.”
Of Coyle’s new role, Robertson said: “I need to ensure London continues its amazing momentum so I asked James to step up. He’s really brought that senior client-side experience to thinking about the depth of our clients’ challenges, and I’ve been impressed by his thirst to jump into everything and learn the breadth of our business. In his new role he’ll also look after research and analytics, where we’ve had double-digit growth for the past few years and it’s now exploding.”
Robertson said Solanki (left) was a perfect fit to step into the client experience role vacated by Coyle: “She’s an absolute client-whisperer in terms of her capacity, speed and the quality of work she produces with her teams. She started as a graduate trainee and has made her way through healthcare, corporate, brand, so she really has a deep understanding of everything we do and is a master of bringing together brilliant teams to do the best work of their lives.”
The promotions are three of 42 in London since the start of this year, and Robertson said she had also started the search for a deputy CEO in London: “We’ve got such incredible momentum and given my increased responsibility I’m looking for someone with new skills, new thinking and a distinct point of view who can help us really elevate the consultancy model we need to keep pushing forward.”
Coyle told PRovoke Media: “We have amazingly talented people in the organisation who are really changing the game in what we do, brilliant clients who trust us to help with the problems they are facing, and a thirst for innovation in every single thing we do. Our desire to constantly evolve is at the heart of what we do as a leadership team, and my new role will help us move faster. We’re restless, our culture is always about what we can do next and do better. I’m so proud of the team and really excited.”
Murphy said her priorities would be "data, digital, differentiating ourselves, and continuing to take a lead on DE&I." She added: "We’ve been able, over the past few months, to upweight our strategic leadership for many clients including P&G, and we’re really making progress: our big global clients inspire us to continue to raise our game and keep us at the bleeding edge of our craft.”
And Solanki said: “It’s a huge honour to take on this new position at Ketchum and I’m excited to be joining forces with Jo-ann, James and our leadership team to make amazing things happen for our clients. Anyone that’s worked with me will know how passionate I am about client service, and I am reinvigorated by this new challenge to take our consultancy to the next level.”
Ketchum was recently awarded Blueprint D&I mark status. Other senior hires to the London bench this year include Indy Selvarajah joining from Edelman as creative lead and Camilla Dormer as deputy MD of health.