Mother Design has hired Ariadna Navarro as its first-ever president in the U.S. Navarro’s appointment is the first step in head of design Mark Sloan and managing director Danielle Horanieh’s vision for Mother Design of the growth and expansion of capabilities.
After seven years of headcount growth and attracting higher-profile projects over the years from global brands including Cadillac, Marriott, MLB, PayPal, Peloton and Tripadvisor, Sloan and Horanieh realized they needed a third person to help them futureproof the agency.
“We knew immediately upon meeting Ariadna that she was the person we’d been looking for. She advocates at the highest levels for the transformative power of design and cares deeply about her teammates,” said Sloan in a statement. “Her complementary skill sets in growth, strategy, and innovation round out our leadership team in a truly exciting way.”
Navarro joins Mother Design from branding agency VSA Partners, where she has been since 2018, most recently serving as chief growth officer. In that role, she led strategy, client engagement and business development, helping clients identify and unlock growth potential by connecting business strategy to brand and experience design. Prior to VSA, Navarro was the chief strategy officer for Interbrand.
“There’s a magical feeling about Mother Design that is contagious, and I really wanted to be part of it. It is a dream to work with kindred spirits united by the unmovable belief in the power of creativity to shape the most ambitious companies in the world,” Navarro told ADWEEK. “Design, in its broadest sense, is a weapon for business transformation, and Mother Design has an uncanny ability to see the world differently and use that perspective to create the most compelling brand worlds.”
Mother Design built its foundation alongside independent, high-growth companies with ambitions to shake up their categories, as well as younger startups and nonprofits with goals to improve the world.
“Ariadna knows the business, understands the vision for where we want to go, and has a proven track record of taking clients and agencies she’s worked with to the next level of growth,” said Horanieh in a statement.
While the agency’s core strengths are in brand strategy, naming and crafting verbal and visual identity systems, Mother Design goes beyond to create solutions unique to the client. The agency has integrated sensorial thinking into its practices, imagining what a brand sounds and smells like, for example, prompting clients to contemplate the holistic human experience tied to their brand interactions, according to Mother Design.
“Mark and Danielle have built an extraordinary team, and I can’t wait to work together to dream up the future of Mother Design,” said Navarro.