M&C Saatchi has further expanded the talent within its Strategy team with four new talent appointments. Head of strategy, M&C Saatchi Advertising, Ross Berthinussen, has brought together an impressive range of skillsets to the agency.

He said, “We’re super excited to have Justin Stafford, Stephen Dodd, Nicky Bryson and Grace Wallace join us. They’re the kind of creative entrepreneurs that future facing strategists need to be. We hunted far and wide to find them.”

M&C Saatchi strategy lead, Alex Roper said, “We thought it imperative to secure a genuine mix of skills, particularly for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. We have a true blend. Some a bit more digital, some are behavioural and some are more brand-oriented.”

Justin Stafford joins as strategy director, bringing a wealth of expertise from his tenure at Havas as strategic lead on eBay, Paypal and the Air Force. Prior to this, he worked on Lexus at The White Agency with stints at Yield Digital in Toronto, managing Fosters Wine Estates (Wolf Bass, Fifth Leg & VB), The Alpha Group (Stock Exchange) and Scotiabank International.

Stephen Dodd joins him as integrated strategy director, returning from M&C Saatchi/Lida London where he led strategy for telecommunications giant O2. He also led social and digital strategy for Sony Mobile for NW Europe and major Unilever and Mondelez brands for HeyHuman.

Nicky Bryson comes on board as senior strategist from Leo Burnett where she took out ‘Best in Strategy’ and ‘Rising Star’ agency awards. Bryson has led strategies for clients GIO, Caltex, Woolworths and WWF. At the same time, she managed the planning department’s research and insights arm, working across business development. Previous experience includes managing qualitative and quantitative projects for numerous clients, including IAG, Vodafone, Nestle and News Life Media at House of Brand and Review Partners.

The final addition to the team is Grace Wallace as strategist. With a strong agency understanding from GPY&R, Wallace’s past work encompasses government projects Lifejackets, Motorbikes, Speeding and Fatigue, with a research role at GALKAL and freelancer at Jack Morton and Moon Communications (now IKON).

Roper added, “Brilliantly, they’re all creative thinkers and nice people to boot. With this diverse group, it’s about hunting in a pack to crack a strategy to help solve the problems we get asked to think about.”

M&C’s Group chief strategy officer, Justin Graham said, “We pride ourselves on attracting world-class people and having an unfair share of talent. We’re excited these four exceptional strategists are joining the M&C Saatchi team.”