We have a couple of updates from another continent at the start of this week.
WPP’s VMLY&R hired Karen Boswell as chief experience officer for the EMEA region, tasked with evolving VMLY&R’s experience platform in the geography, working across products and services, experience platforms and business optimization efforts. She will work closely with VMLY&R EMEA CEO Andrew Dimitriou and VMLY&R London CEO Justin Pahl, and report to global chief experience officer Jeff Geheb.
“I’ve been impressed by the positive and impactful disruption Karen has brought everywhere she worked,” Geheb said. “I believe building business and brand growth through CX is imperative today and Karen’s career is a testament of those efforts in action. I am thrilled to have her join our team.”
Boswell arrives at VMLY&R from adam&eveDDB, where she spent the past four years, most recently serving as head of innovation. She previously held client strategy leadership positions at AKQA and account director roles at LBi. Throughout her career, she has worked across notable campaigns such as Waitrose’s “Live from the Farm,” Virgin Atlantic’s “#OneDay” and the “Social Collection” for M&S. Boswell was named to IPA’s Women of Tomorrow list in 2016 and as one of Google’s “Top 10 Female Creatives to Watch” in 2017 and 2018.
New York-based brand and innovation consultancy Lippincott brought on Greg Handrick as senior partner director of the EMEA region, tasked with spearheading client leadership, talent development, financial stewardship, and driving collaboration with international consultancy Oliver Wyman, of which Lippincott is a part. His role will be heavily focused on business development, but will also include work with key existing clients.
“I’ve been brought in with a very simple remit; to help grow the European and Middle East business. Part of this is about increasing our visibility in the U.K. The other part is about going to market in a more integrated fashion with the other practices of Oliver Wyman,” Handrick said. “We have big ambitions for the next three to five years.”
Handrick has spent the past 12 years at Prophet, where he was responsible for growth in the U.K., as well as leading their financial services practice. Prior to that, he served stints at McKinsey and Orange. He has worked across clients including UBS, eBay, Swarovski, Zurich Financial, Danske Bank, iShares, CVC Capital Partners, Spire Healthcare, Al Jazeera and Virgin Active.