MEET THE TEAM

John Owen

John has spent 25 years in marketing, most notably as strategic partner of Dare from 2003-15, during which time the agency was declared Digital Agency of the Decade by Campaign.

John took an MSc in behavioural science at the LSE after leaving Dare and has since helped multiple businesses to build & sustain commercially creative cultures. He is WDC’s behaviour change expert – using scientific insights to ensure new ways of working are as easy as possible to adopt, and as motivating as possible to enact.

Nicky Russell

Nicky has an entrepreneurial background and came to marketing relatively late – starting as a runner at Grey London. Eight years later, she’d risen to be Anomaly COO. She was named the IPA’s Woman of Tomorrow in 2016.

Nicky is a dedicated problem solver, passionate about putting people first while simultaneously championing commercial leadership in marketing & creative operations. Her expertise lies in devising new business models that lead to best-in-class creative work, produced with efficiency.

Jim Hubbard

Jim has been a recognised leader in marketing & creative operations for 30 years and has lead change management projects for more than 60 businesses.

As a member of the main board at BBH, Jim was responsible for the operating model and the Project Management team that ran it. Within this remit he was also responsible for the agency’s Production and Design teams.

Jim set up WDC in 2004. His unrivalled reputation has been driven by a passion for getting things right and simplifying ways of working, always in the service of happy people, great work and delighted marketers.

Harry Playford

Harry, a creative operations expert and personal development coach, bridges the gap between business and personal performance. She firmly believes in individual excellence as the key to organisational success.

With a career focused on optimising creative operations and fostering individual growth, she brings vast experience in designing operational models, driving efficiencies, and promoting collaboration.

Additionally, as a licensed NLP Practitioner, she is passionate about empowering individuals to reach their true potential, overcome obstacles, and achieve both personal and professional goals.

Jo Rolfe

Jo is a strategist with over twenty years’ experience in marketing and people-centred change. A CX specialist, Jo has worked with brands such as Aviva, Shell, O2, Canon and Wickes to create competitive advantage through holistic design thinking and customer journey mapping.

Jo now applies this skillset to Employee Experience design: devising process maps, structural recommendations, and behaviour change strategies for WDC’s clients. Comfortable navigating ambiguity and dealing with multi-faceted business problems, Jo is also adept at facilitating new business models, service design solutions and new approaches to marketing operations.

Stephen Attree

Stephen entered the world of marketing 16 years ago as a graduate trainee at Leo Burnett. He has since built a stellar career as an agency-side business director, client-side marketing director and, latterly, as a consultant helping both clients and agencies to adapt and thrive in the challenging conditions of recent years.

Stephen’s experience ranges from global multinationals like Kellogg’s and McDonald’s to setting up marketing operations for UK start-up business, Pasta Evangelists. A sharp strategic thinker with a track record of building and managing high functioning teams, he is one of WDC’s leading all-rounders.

Patrick Burgoyne

Patrick was Editor of Creative Review, the leading title for the creative industries, from 1999 to 2019. He has been both a trustee and CEO of D&AD. He is the author of several books on design, advertising and visual culture and has been a frequent commentator on creativity in the national media.

He regularly chairs debates and speaks at the world's leading events on creativity, including Cannes Lions and the London Design Festival.

Dave West

Dave has a wealth of experience in both
market-leading agency and client-side
 marketing operations, including Grey and Sony.

He’s been responsible for setting up and running creative studios, marshalling creative resources across both in-house and external portfolios, and managing relationships between creative and business stakeholders. He has a track record in building smooth marketing operations that are key to long-term commercial success.

Phil Andrews

Phil is a highly experienced Chairman with nearly 40 years of experience working in and running a variety of Marketing Services businesses, through which he has gained a great deal of first-hand experience in a spectrum of small to large companies. 

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing, his background is one of a career Direct Marketer who founded and built one of the most successful independent Direct Digital Agencies in the UK, Partners Andrews Aldridge. 

Since selling, he no longer has any involvement in the business which continued to thrive 20 years after its foundation. Phil is now focussed on advising businesses in the Creative and tech industries.

Alessandra Lariu

Ale is a former ECD, a practising consultant, mentor and coach, and co-founder of SheSays - a vibrant community of creative women with 70,000 members in 55 cities.

Between 2007 and 2011 she was a Creative Director in advertising and won over 18 global industry awards. Ale was named in Fast Company’s “League of Extraordinary Women” along with 60 other accomplished leaders such as Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey.

Born in the Amazon jungle, she grew up in Rio de Janeiro, lived in the US for many years and has now settled in London. Ale uses her time and expertise to make businesses stronger and to support women through positive action.

Matt Hull-Tullah

With 30 years experience and recent Masters in Digital Management, Matt is perfectly positioned to lead clients, teams and organisations in their transformation.

Matt has experience of producing programs of work for top blue-chip clients including Virgin, Philips and Unilever. Most recently, Matt was Global Delivery Lead for Publicis Emil, transforming digital marketing operations for Mercedes-Benz at global, regional and local levels.

Matt is inspired to solve complex problems for positive change through drawing amazing people together, blending creativity and technology and establishing the right environment to empower teams.

Rachel Chapman

Rachel has over 25 years’ experience in marketing, working in a wide range of disciplines client side, including customer insight, marketing strategy and marketing communication, both B2B and B2C. Her biggest claim to fame is launching the iconic ‘Bank of Antandec’ campaign whilst she led the Marketing team at Santander. 

Rachel now specialises in helping marketing departments become more effective, efficient and adaptable, with a focus on implementing agile ways of working.

She is an accredited ICAgile instructor, and co-founder of the hugely successful Meetup group, the Marketing Agility Community which has over 1,300 members.