Agency Announces New Leadership Positions Globally Post Restructure
Hopping on Board: AKQA Bolsters Global Leadership with Four Key Hires
AKQA shakes things up as they welcome four new members to their global leadership team, exclusively revealed to Adweek.
Miriam Plon Sauer is making a comeback to AKQA as the global chief strategy officer, following a brief detour at McCann Worldgroup. She's on a mission to craft future-forward strategies that seamlessly blend creativity with commercial triumph. Her aim? Ensuring AKQA becomes a trusted partner in growth, aligning strategic vision with meaningful client impact across global markets.
Ben Royce joins the team from Google Cloud, stepping into the role of the agency's chief technology officer. Driven by unlocking business transformation, Ben leads the integration of AI, machine learning, and data-driven technologies into client solutions. By combining cutting-edge digital and AI-driven innovation, he's geared up to help clients reinvent their business models for significant growth.
Longtime AKQA creative, Tim Devine has been elevated to the post of chief invention officer. Tim's focus is on the creation of groundbreaking technology-driven solutions, known for his inventive projects that tackle societal and environmental issues. He steers the development of innovative, impactful client solutions that seamlessly blend creativity and technology.
Jonathan Bolden is a familiar face within AKQA, having landed the position of chief transformation officer following a stint in consulting. He's all about helping clients modernize their operations, embedding transformation into their core strategies. Jonathan's mandate is to drive organizational change and operational modernization in line with broader strategic objectives.
All four are now part of AKQA's global executive committee, promising a more unified strategy, technology, and delivery approach — regardless of where the work is executed. Stephan Pretorius, WPP's chief technology officer and interim chair of AKQA, explained to Adweek that these strategic shifts equip the agency to lead the next phase of growth by guiding clients through digital and business transformations, delivering innovative solutions, driving impactful innovations across regions, and aligning strategy, technology, invention, and transformation functions for client growth and success.
Sources:
- AKQA Leadership: Driving Growth and Transformation
- Innovation at AKQA: Technology-Driven Solutions
- Strategic Thinking at AKQA: Driving Commercial Success
- AKQA's Global Approach: Making an Impact Across Markets
- Organizational Change: Driving Transformation at AKQA
- Miriam Plon Sauer, previously with McCann Worldgroup, is now the global chief strategy officer at AKQA, tasked with creating future-forward strategies that marry creativity and commercial success, a move aimed at positioning AKQA as a trusted growth partner across global markets.
- As the agency's chief technology officer, Ben Royce, who was previously with Google Cloud, will be leading the integration of AI, machine learning, and data-driven technologies into client solutions, with the aim of helping clients reinvent their business models for significant growth.
- Tim Devine, a longtime AKQA creative, has been promoted to the role of chief invention officer and will be focusing on the creation of cutting-edge technology-driven solutions, building on his track record of innovative projects that address societal and environmental issues.
- Jonathan Bolden, having returned to AKQA after a stint in consulting, assumes the role of chief transformation officer and is dedicated to helping clients modernize their operations, embedding transformation into their core strategies to drive organizational change and operational modernization in line with broader strategic objectives.
