PHD has appointed a new National Head of Strategy and Head of Strategy Sydney.
Mitchell Long has been promoted to national head of strategy after being in the position of head of strategy Sydney for two years. Long has been on a steep trajectory since joining the company as an intern in 2011. In 2020, Long became Sydney co-chair of Omnicom’s Open Pride and helped lead initiatives and events across Omnicom’s media and creative agencies to drive greater diversity and inclusion across the broader network. In that same year, Long was also named the winner of AdNews Emerging Leader of 2020.
Remi Baker who has been in the position of strategy director for four years leading several clients including Google, Audi, Skoda, Unilever and Pepsico will succeed Mitch’s role as head of strategy Sydney. Baker has been with the company since 2012 where she, too, started out as an intern at PHD International in London. Beyond client work, Remi continues to drive the innovation agenda at PHD after establishing the PHD Innovation Council in 2018, a cross-discipline team responsible for which contributed to PHD being named The Australian Financial Review’s Most Innovative Company in 2018 and 2020. In 2019 Baker was also crowned the winner of B&T’s 30 Under 30 Strategy Award. Long will report to chief product officer, Alex Pacey while Baker will report into Long, national head of strategy.
On the appointments, Pacey said: “It gives us immense pride and pleasure to be able to elevate Mitch to National Head of Strategy for PHD Australia. Mitch has long been a major driving force behind PHD’s market leading strategic output. He’s a rare breed of humble brilliance that has genuine and immediate positive impact on the work he touches and the people he influences.
“Remi was the only name on our list of people to succeed Mitch as Sydney head of strategy. Her love of the craft of strategy and drive for innovation is infectious and genuinely game changing for us as agency and the businesses we represent. The opportunity for her to have greater influence over more people and lead the Sydney office was an absolute no brainer”.
Commenting on Baker and his new role, Long said: “We all know, good people are the lifeblood of our industry, but to say Remi is ‘good’ is a vast understatement. Remi always delivers exceptional rigor, creativity and clarity that quite simply separates the wheat from the chaff. I’m super excited to see her take PHD Sydney’s strategic work to the next level and equally energised to evolve our strategic capabilities nationally.”
Baker commented on her promotion: “Having spent the majority of my career growing and learning at PHD, I can honestly say, I continue to feel energised and educated by the amazing people I work alongside every day. I couldn’t be more excited to step into a leadership role within the business and there is no better person that I’d like to lead alongside, than the fabulous Mitch Long. I’m looking forward to working together to continue growing our strategic offering, driving creativity and spearheading innovation across everything we do (especially at a time when clients need it more than ever before!)”
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