Initiative promotes Tom Dodd to chief strategist
Initiative’s Jo McAlister has made her first major move as the newly-minted CEO, promoting Tom Dodd to chief strategy officer, effective immediately.
Based in Melbourne, Dodd has been elevated to the role after two years as the agency’s national head of strategy.
He has been tasked with designing and leading the next phase of Initiative’s strategy product nationally, reporting to McAlister, who said it made complete sense to promote within and allow him to continue to build.
Prior to Initiative, Dodd has worked in senior roles across Australia and the UK, including at IAG where he managed the media business across its brand portfolio, and UM where he was head of connections planning.
Tom Dodd and Jo McAlister
“I was blown away by the calibre of talent who were put forward for the role, but Doddy was my first and natural choice to be appointed as chief strategy officer,” McAlister explained.
“He has been immersed in our business for over 2 years as our national head of strategy, and like me, has valuable client-side experience, so really understands how our clients think and what is required from a strategy perspective to propel them forward.
“He is an exceptional leader with extensive experience leading agency villages coupled with a deep knowledge garnered from working client side, which makes him an invaluable asset to the agency’s SLT and strategy team,” she continued.
“But the best thing about Doddy is his ability to bring out the best in everyone, he has extraordinarily high standards and is relentless in making sure our work is of the highest quality, however what I love most is he takes everyone, from client service to his strategy team to investment along on the journey with him. I can’t wait to see what he will achieve this year for the agency and our clients.”
Dodd replaces former chief strategy and product officer Chris Colter, who departed Initiative mid-2024 alongside former CEO Melissa Fein and national MD Sam Geer. The trio were nabbed by Accenture Song, to lead a new media arm.
On his appointment, Dodd said: “When I joined Initiative, we were coming out of Covid and clients were looking for interesting ideas and experiences to solve their business challenges. That hasn’t changed but added to the mix is the immersion of data-led thinking underpinned by AI, and Initiative is perfectly poised to utilise these technologies to deliver best in class thinking to our craft.
“It’s an incredibly exciting time to be leading the agency’s strategy offering,” he continued.
“I am excited about working with Jo and the team to craft a new agency narrative and expand the national strategy/comms design teams ensuring they are totally focussed on driving sustainable business growth, for clients and continuing Initiative’s reputation as leading strategic thinkers.”
McAlister added that the pair have been given a “special opportunity” to lead an agency that “truly reflects us”.
“We love Initiative’s challenger mindset; we want to do brave work with our client partners, and we are obsessed with giving everyone an opportunity to shine,” she said. “The excitement and energy to redefine Initiative in a new era is palpable across the office and 2025 is certainly starting with a bang.”
Dodd’s full national strategy team will be announced shortly.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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