Grey New York Names Nur El Shami Chief Operating Officer

Grey continues reshaping its C-suite with its latest hire, Nur El Shami, who has been appointed chief operations officer for Grey New York, a newly created role at the agency. Grey Group has been going through a leadership transformation lately. The global agency recently named Laura Maness its global CEO, the first woman to attain the role. In addition, former CEO Michael Houston became WPP’s North America president, and John Patroulis and New York CCO Justine Armour left the agency. Stacey Shelly recently took over the P&G account from the retired Debby Reiner, Jason Kahner took on the global client lead role, and ECD Andre Gray left to take a CCO role at Annex88. At the New York office, Amber Guild assumed the role of Grey New York CEO in December. Guild had worked with El Shami at The New York Times, leading transformation of the digital branded content division T Brand Studios along with the business transformation of the global advertising division, which led to her consideration as COO at Grey New York. “I came to Grey New York because of its extraordinary legacy of constant reinvention,” Guild told Adweek. “With Nur El Shami, I have a partner who is experienced in driving transformation. She knows how to work collaboratively with all of the incredibly talented people in our studio to enact the next phase of change for us by accelerating our ability to create a workplace culture where all people can do their best work, and where we deliver smarter, faster and more creatively for our clients.” El Shami joins Grey from WaitWhat, a media invention company that builds premium IP, where she held the chief operating officer role. Prior to her four-plus years at The New York Times, El Shami worked in the fashion industry, holding various positions in marketing and production at labels in Milan, Paris and London before founding her own boutique fine-art platform in London with a mission to support and promote emerging artists via alternative patronage models. She later moved to New York to begin consulting for brands in the arts and luxury industry and producing cultural events. At Grey, El Shami will focus on building a strong yet nimble operational foundation that will enable people at Grey to do their best work, according to the agency. Strategic initiatives will include architecting Grey New York’s approach to the future of work and reshaping the vision for project management and resource management. “I want to evolve our infrastructure to enable people from all backgrounds to focus more on the work and less on the process,” El Shami told Adweek. "We’re at an inflection point in the advertising industry where true innovation is needed to explore and shift to different ways of working. With my background of navigating various creative fields, and coming to Grey as a somewhat outsider to the traditional agency world, it may allow us to do just that." El Shami will also help empower talent to achieve their fullest potential, something she has done as the chair of the board of Scholarship Plus, a nonprofit supporting first-generation college students from low income families to receive higher education, fully paid and debt free. Grey Group Names Laura Maness Global CEO