Creative agency Smyle has bolstered its leadership team with three senior management promotions and the appointment of a new Group chair.
The agency is expanding its eight-strong Directors’ Group, by appointing managers from three key areas of the business to boost the leadership’s skills, knowledge and capabilities.
Head of Creative Emma Gardner becomes Executive Design Director, Head of People Experience Charlotte Key is made People Experience Director and Client Development Director James Howitt also joins the Group, with the same the job title.
The appointments give the agency’s leadership greater specialist expertise in the three key areas of creativity, talent and client relations.
Dominic Thomas-Smith, Managing Director of Smyle, says: “We are creating greater focus in the leadership of the agency by bringing in specialist voices around creative, talent and clients. We want to be the UK’s most creative agency, we want to be a destination for the industry’s most sought-after talent, and we want to do great work for our clients. Our new look Directors’ Group with Emma, Charlotte and James on board, will bring these specialist skills to the leadership of the business, allowing us to focus on these areas more, and prepare us for an exciting new chapter in our development.”
Emma Gardner has been at Smyle for six years and has worked across some of Smyle’s most notable work to date, as well as most of the agency’s clients. Her priority as Head of Creative has been to create a diverse, dynamic, bold creative team.
Charlotte Key joined the agency back in 2016 and is responsible for day-to-day people operations. A qualified Chartered member of the CIPD, she has experience at national and international organisations and has worked in sectors such as the NHS, professional services, creative and media. She has been integral to the agency’s development over this time, evolving how Smyle supports, develops, retains their people, as well as identifying the talent of the future, from diverse backgrounds.
James Howitt joined the agency over two years ago, spearheading the Client Development effort, with his evolution in role now assuming responsibility for the Client Experience division including a number of expert relationship leads and managers. James has experience in the B2C and B2B sectors where he has built experiences for brands including Diageo, Adidas and HSBC and is driving the strategy of exciting new clients, some of the world’s most leading and ambitious brands, into Smyle.
Following an extensive search Smyle Group has appointed Paul Woolley, former Global President & Chief Operating Officer of the Omnicom network grouping CPM International, as Chair of the Smyle Group board. Paul brings extensive knowledge and experience of working within the media/creative/digital/content/live industries with extensive working knowledge of the international agency ecosystem.
Keith O’Loughlin, Smyle Group CEO says: “We are thrilled to have Paul on board. He will bring greater expertise, experience and bandwidth to the boardroom table, challenge the management and hold us to account to make sure everything we do fits with our strategy to become one of the world’s leading creative agencies for physical and digital experiences and content.”
The new-look management team takes effect immediately.
