Anomaly has named Ariba Jahan as head of transformation, North America.
Jahan will enhance the agency’s transformation capability to help clients shape experiences, products and content. Jahan will also help guide the future of responsible technology and business transformation.
Jahan will be based in New York and will work across Anomaly offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto.
“Ariba was the perfect choice for this vital leadership role—technological knowhow combined with ambition, innovation, creativity and an entrepreneurial drive,” said Carl Johnson, Anomaly founding partner and executive chairman in a statement. “Throw in an eclectic background and that’s how you get an Anomaly.”
Jahan most recently served as vp of product experience and innovation at the Ad Council. During her nine-year tenure, she led the non-profit’s design innovation practice, leading organizational change and innovation strategy while shaping emerging tech and media.
For Anomaly, Jahan will develop solutions in digital products and experiences, content strategy, organizational strategy, business structure and operating models.
Jahan is an active keynote speaker at global tech conferences and for companies including Google, Vox Media, Etsy, Hubspot, Tiktok, Advertising Week, Women Who Code, Ogilvy and Interaction Design Conference. She has guest lectured for institutions including Columbia University, the California College of Arts, and The New School and taught at Parsons School of Design.
Jahan currently chairs the Advisory Council of Women in Innovation, served on the board of Asians in Advertising, hosts the Up Next in Tech podcast, and in 2023 was featured as part of the Global Top 100 Women of the Future. In addition, Jahan mentors young women in tech as part of her mission to bring more diverse, intersectional and marginalized voices to positions of power and leadership.
“I am delighted that a role like this one exists at the intersection of brand transformation, experience strategy and technology, something that, as a multi-disciplinary leader, resonates deeply with me. So too, does Anomaly’s very real claim to be a deviation from the norm; I felt that immediately and at every touchpoint,” said Jahan in a statement.
Jahan’s appointment comes at a time when the agency is transforming its business with the Anomaly Alliance, a partnership model designed to expand the agency’s global footprint beyond its existing offices in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, London, Berlin and Shanghai. The news comes on the heels of Anomaly’s acquisition of French digital brand and marketing consultancy What’s Next Partners (WNP), which will become the first co-branded member of the Anomaly Alliance.