Herd MSL chief growth officer takes up MD role at Keep Left Sydney
Independent PR and creative agency, Keep Left, has found its new Sydney managing director in Herd MSL’s Katarina Farrell, Mumbrella can reveal.
The appointments is part of a greater investment in the agency’s Sydney presence, after expanding its creative and strategic capability and launching its new positioning, Ideas People Choose, in October.
L-R: Caroline Catterall, Katarina Farrell and Gillian Gosling
Farrell has spent more than seven years at Herd MSL, first as general manager, before moving into the chief growth officer role in November last year. She brings 18 years of experience, having worked with a number of national and global brands, including American Express, Cancer Council Australia, and Commonwealth Bank as well as numerous State and Federal Government departments.
Mumbrella understands Herd MSL will go to market for a new chief growth officer to replace Farrell.
Keep Left CEO and founder Caroline Catterall said appointing a Sydney-based lead came after a 12-month search to “find the right person to shape, lead and grow the Keep Left brand in Sydney”. She said the stars had aligned “in terms of the growth momentum” the agency was experiencing nationally, and particularly in Sydney.
Nationally, the agency sits at 45 staff, with the Sydney team currently sitting at six people, and continuing to expand.
The past six months have seen a number of new client wins for the agency, including both retained and project work with private and public sector clients. The agency hinted at two further significant national wins that are yet to be announced, with both set to be run out of the Sydney office.
“Kata is just super impressive in every dimension,” Catterall added. “We share a desire to create one Keep Left brand that resonates nationally and delivers clever, creative, and effective communications attracting the very best clients and talent along the way.”
Of her appointment, Farrell said, “A large part of my agency career has been spent working in an Indie where I was able to play a key role in building and scaling the business, ahead of its sale to a global creative group. It’s so exciting to be back in an Indie and with such a clear mandate to shape and grow Keep Left in Sydney – this time in partnership with Caz and Gill.
“I’m seriously impressed by the sophistication of Keep Left and the work the team has done to fuse advertising and PR thinking as part of Ideas People Choose, which really shows in the quality of the strategic and creative offering.”
Managing partner and co-owner of Keep Left, Gillian Gosling, added: “It was a major focus of our strategic plan to appoint a leader in Sydney that brought complementary but different skills to the table and we’ve found that in Kata. We feel confident the Sydney business is in great hands and I’m pumped about what the three of us can achieve with the support of the management team.”
Farrell commenced at Keep Left last week.
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