WPP-owned AKQA has promoted Tim Devine from his AUNZ ECD role into a global chief invention officer remit as part of a global reorganisation.
Along with Devine’s promotion, Miriam Plon Sauer has rejoined as global chief strategy officer after a brief stint at McCann Worldgroup. Ben Royce has joined from Google Cloud as the agency’s chief technology officer and Jonathan Bolden has been promoted to chief transformation officer.
All of them have joined AKQA’s global executive committee.
AKQA said clients are increasingly seeking partners who can deliver across multiple markets with a seamless, integrated approach. AKQA is responding by deepening its ability to combine design, customer experience, brand storytelling, business strategy, technology, innovation, and AI into holistic, intelligent solutions.
These appointments will work in close partnership with AKQA’s global chief creative officers Shu Hung, Diego Machado, Peter Lund, and Hugo Veiga to complement its creative offering and accelerate the integration of creativity, technology, and strategy across every client engagement.
Stephan Pretorius, AKQA interim chair said: “These leadership appointments mark a pivotal moment for AKQA. As we continue to evolve, we are bringing together some of the brightest minds in strategy, technology, invention and business transformation to drive forward a more integrated and future-focused proposition. Our clients are increasingly looking for partners who can support them globally with seamless, multidisciplinary expertise. This team will ensure we meet that need, delivering transformative solutions and building on our existing strengths in creativity, design, customer experience, product development and brand storytelling. I can’t wait to see how their leadership will shape the next chapter of AKQA’s journey.”
This announcement follows AKQA’s new global structure, unveiled at the end of 2024, which was designed to integrate AKQA’s capabilities more seamlessly and enhance its ability to deliver innovation at scale.
