PHD has appointed Carat’s Lucy Barbor as chief strategy officer, filling a vacancy left by Mike Florence. The Omnicom agency has also hired Kate Browne in the new role of chief transformation officer.
The pair will join PHD in 2022 and form part of chief executive Ali Reed’s leadership team.
Barber is a global strategy partner at Carat and has previously worked as director of brand media at retail data consultancy Dunnhumby.
She is returning to PHD after seven years and will have overall responsibility for the agency’s strategic output, with a specific focus on “innovative business planning and the digital transformation of PHD’s strategic product”.
Florence, one of the industry's top media planners, left the agency earlier in 2021 to take up a global role at Gravity Road.
Browne will join PHD from Group M’s Essence, where she is vice-president of business operations.
Her experience spans roles in operations, commercial and digital at agencies including Essence, Maxus and iLevel, as well as a client role at Rail Europe.
At PHD, she will oversee its transformation agenda and be responsible for improving operational efficiency, which includes leading a new operations hub.
“2021 has been a successful year for PHD but it’s incredibly important that we don’t rest on our laurels and we continue to push ourselves to deliver for our clients in digital and data as marketing’s role expands in response to Covid-19 and digital explosion of the consumer experience,” Reed said.
“Lucy and Kate’s arrival will keep us at the forefront of what is expected of a modern marketing services company and they will bring fresh, diverse, digital-first voices to our leadership team to make our strategy smarter and our agency fitter.”
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