Merge, the agency assembled in February with the combination of Chicago HY Connect and Merge Design + Interactive in Chicago, Partners & Simons in Boston and Dodge Communications and Avid Design in Atlanta, welcomed Lauren Tucker as chief strategy officer.
Based in Chicago, Tucker will work across the Merge network and report to CEO Ron Bess.
“Lauren has a diverse, well-rounded background that covers strategy, planning, CRM, media and performance analytics. Importantly, every role she’s played has been data driven,” Bess said in a statement.
Tucker joins the agency with over 25 years if experience. She most recently served as founder and CEO of multicultural insights and strategy consultancy Do What Matters. Beginning in 2003, she spent over a decade with The Martin Agency, where most recently served as senior vice president, director of Martin decision sciences, after previously serving as senior vice president, group planning director and director of consumer forensics. Before joining The Martin Agency she served two years as vice president, senior planner on Morningstar Farms and Kellogg’s, followed by two years as Henderson Advertising director of account planning. Tucker has a PHD in journalism and mass communications and a minor in data analytics and has also served as a board member for the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Richmond. Over the course of her career, she has worked with brands including Walmart, Kraft, Geico, Kellogg’s, Kraft, and Hoover.
“I think of myself as a solution builder who knows how to tell stories with data. I was drawn to being part of this agency at the nexus of data, strategy, creativity, and technology,” Tucker said in a statement.