The Stagwell Group has made several hires and promotions to expand its central marketing team and reach brands undergoing digital transformation.

The Washington, D.C.-based integrated marketing services firm has raised more than half a billion dollars and developed a company of more than twenty digital-first brands in the first four years of its life, but has kept a low profile as it began to test centralized marketing efforts. An initially modest marketing investment yielded ten-fold returns in 2019, leading to the formation of a marketing group that will seek joint sales opportunities for Stagwell’s Data + Creativity model.

“We didn’t just build a collection of agencies, we built a company that could meet the full needs of a brand,” says Stagwell Group Managing Partner Mark Penn. “Now it’s time to build the team who can meld all the pieces that we’ve gathered and bring them to market.”

The new hires and promotions include Anas Ghazi, former Growth Officer at Kantar, who will be Managing Director and Chief Strategy Officer; Politico veteran Alexis Williams as Executive Vice President and Head of Marketing; Merrill Raman, CIO of Harris Poll as Managing Director, Enterprise Data; and Regan Considine, formerly of National Journal, as Senior Director. The team will be led by Beth Lester Sidhu, Chief Operating Officer and newly promoted Chief Marketing Officer. More hires are expected.

Stagwell’s central marketing team will foster collaboration across its brands, which includes companies as diverse as creative digital agency Code and Theory, performance marketing agency ForwardPMX, analytics and insights firm Harris Research, and creative agency Observatory.

These companies were intended to work together without conflict from the moment they joined the Stagwell Group, an edge that is helping Stagwell provide the kind of large-scale engagements that brand marketers increasingly look for. “Our clients want connected marketing solutions, and we believe new brands will, too,” Sidhu says. “If you’re building a solution for today’s marketers, you aren’t going to build one that looks like 1970 or even 2010 – you’re going to build one that works in 2020 and beyond.” 

Biographies of the executives include:

Alexis Williams is Executive Vice President and Head of Marketing for the Stagwell Group. Alexis heads up Stagwell’s marketing, positioning and thought leadership efforts. Prior to joining Stagwell, Alexis spent over nine years at Politico with various roles including Global Head of Women Rule, Vice President, and Executive Director.

Anas Ghazi is Managing Director and Chief Strategy Officer at the Stagwell Group. Anas oversees Stagwell’s client engagement, business development and go-to-market strategy. Prior to Stagwell, Anas spent six years at WPP holding various executive roles including CEO & Global Board Director of WPP’s Data Alliance and most recently Growth Officer at Kantar. Anas began his career in financial services at TransUnion and American Express.

Beth Lester Sidhu is Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer at the Stagwell Group. Beth manages Stagwell’s acquisition operations and shared services including centralized new business, marketing, product and technology efforts.  Beth has focused her career at the intersection of business, news and politics. Prior to Stagwell, Beth held leadership roles at news leader POLITICO, public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, international polling firm Penn, Schoen & Berland and the Political Unit of CBS News.

Merrill Raman is the Managing Director, Enterprise Data at the Stagwell Group. His focus is helping Stagwell develop data assets across our brands and support client transformations. Merrill joins Stagwell from a career spanning consulting, market research and healthcare management with a focus on technology and data empowerment. He is well versed in blending analytic approaches to solve high value problems at scale. Previously, Merrill held leadership roles at Penn Schoen & Berland and is a board member at the Al Hayat Group.

Regan Considine is Senior Director at the Stagwell Group, working across marketing, PR, and new business efforts. Prior to joining Stagwell, Regan served as the Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Network Science Initiative, a consulting group within the National Journal and Atlantic Media family.

About the Stagwell Group

The Stagwell Group is the first and only independent, digital-first, and fully-integrated organization of size & scale servicing global brands across the continuum of marketing services. The group includes over 9000 employees operating in more than 25 offices around the world. Collaborative by design, Stagwell is not weighed down by legacy points of view and its people are united in their desire to innovate, evolve, grow and deliver superior results for their clients. Stagwell’s high growth brands include experts in four categories: digital transformation and marketing, research and insights, marketing communications, and content and media.

For more: www.stagwellgroup.com.