Sue Squillace, CEO of Carat ANZ, has announced two executive leadership appointments. Lauren Small (pictured) joins Carat Sydney as managing director and Chris Ernst has been appointed managing director of Carat Melbourne.
“We are building a team that is exciting for the future of Carat. Both Lauren and Chris are proven leaders with first class credentials and highly respected in their fields. They each have the ability to instil confidence and passion in their teams and focus on strengthening all client and partner relationships,” Squillace said.
“I’m thrilled to be working with both Lauren and Chris as part of our ELT who I have the utmost respect for, and both share my passion for collaborative people-based leadership.”
Prior to Carat, Small spent the last nine years with the Publicis Groupe. She started with Starcom Mediavest in 2011 as client business manager and quickly rose up the ranks to become client services director. From Mediavest she moved to Spark Foundry as general manager where she spent just under three years. During her career with Publicis she forged strong cross agency collaboration relationships which ultimately led to the launch of integrated models, such as Diageo and Campbell Arnott’s.
“I’m truly excited to be joining Carat in a period of momentum, I look forward to drawing on my collaboration experience to create enduring and meaningful internal and external relationships with our people and partners. My plan is to start with building on the culture that already exists, and making Carat Sydney a fulfilling and exciting place to come to work every day,” Small said.
Chris Ernst
During his first 12 months with the company Ernst united the dentsu offering in Queensland, including the re-integration of Amplifi into Carat and the connection of Carat, iProspect and Haystac in the market to form a business that is integrated by design under the dentsu banner.
“It’s great to have been given the opportunity to lead the Carat Melbourne team and to be working more closely with Sue across the Carat business nationally. We’ve got an incredible team in Melbourne, and we’re fortunate to partner with some of Australia’s top brands including Medibank, L’Oreal, Kraft Heinz and more. I can’t wait to get stuck into it,” Ernst said.