IPG Mediabrands-owned media agency Initiative has announced the appointment of Scott Laird as director of people and culture.
As part of his new role, Laird will become a member of Initiatives national senior leadership team.
Laird has been the people and culture manager at Publicis Media for the past two years, working across all of Publicis’ Australian and New Zealand media brands, and has led the group’s learning and development programs.
His HR experience began within Publicis’ creative agencies before moving to media. Laird’s career has also seen him work as an athletics coach in Australia, playing professional hockey in Europe and a four-year stint at a special behavioural support school.
Initiative Australia CEO Melissa Fein said: “Our business is rapidly moving to a new competitive positioning where we are delving deeply into cultural and growth analytics that lead to enhanced growth for our clients’ brands.
“Scott will play a key role in developing and driving the people and culture programs that underpin our transition. He is a passionate and high-energy professional with a very important role to play for us.
Commenting on his appointment, Laird said: “The drive by Initiative in transforming its competitive positioning is very compelling and a highly attractive challenge from a people and culture perspective.
“The team is quite new, but has already achieved so much, and I am very keen to offer my support to their future culture and brand focus.”
Laird will start work in his national role at Initiative this week, and will be based in Sydney.
