LAB Group announces new leadership line-up following addition of Studio BLUP
Current LAB Finance Director Rachel Howe and Talent and HR Manager Priya Unwith take on new group-level roles alongside Group Chief Growth Officer Harpreet Bushell
Promotions follow addition of creative agency Studio BLUP to portfolio
LAB Group has announced a new leadership line-up following the recent addition of creative agency Studio BLUP to its portfolio.
The agency group has promoted current Finance Director Rachel Howe to the role of Group Chief Financial Officer, and current Talent and HR Manager Priya Unwith to the position of Group Head of People. Howe and Unwith make up the new leadership line-up along with Harpreet Bushell, who recently joined LAB Group as Group Chief Growth Officer from digital agency Valtech.
In her new role as Group Chief Financial Officer, Howe will be responsible for the group’s finance team, ensuring that all decisions made for the business are commercially sound. She will also support the financial growth of all LAB Group companies and roll out consistent processes and systems across the group.
As Group Head of People, Unwith will oversee people and talent for the group, covering everything from on-boarding new starters to implementing HR initiatives. She will advise and support LAB Group leaders on HR best practices as well as helping to attract and retain talent.
In Bushell’s role as Group Chief Growth Officer, which she took on in April of this year, she is responsible for the overall revenue growth of LAB Group’s agencies, with a key focus on digital business. She is working to help unite all of the group’s revenue earners with achievable targets, and to facilitate teamwork and collaboration.
LAB Group recently announced that creative agency Studio BLUP would be joining the group. The group also owns digital agencies LAB and Reflect Digital.
Jonny Tooze, CEO, LAB Group, said: “I’m delighted to announce our new leadership team at LAB Group. Harpreet, Priya and Rachel are outstanding leaders and represent our focus on what we view as the three key areas for agency success: great work, people first, and commerciality. This move will give all three of them greater ownership of their specialisms while enabling me to further focus my attention on LAB Group acquisitions and IP development, as we continue to grow both organically and in-organically.”
Rachel Howe, new Group Chief Financial Officer, LAB Group, said: “LAB has always been an exciting, high-energy company to work for, and it’s great to see like-minded companies such as Reflect Digital and Studio BLUP in the group, to help build on the fantastic service offering and culture that are already in place. I’m really looking forward to working on our growth strategy and building a financially robust and diverse group.”
Priya Unwith, new Group Chief People Officer, LAB Group, said: “It’s exciting to work for LAB Group, as it’s such a forward-thinking agency where people have the same common ground: an understanding of human behaviour, which is something which flows into how we develop our talent. I’ve always had a passion for ensuring that employees are happy, and a belief that our people and their development are vital for business success. Moving into this new role will really help me to instill this at a leadership level, enabling me to champion people initiatives and ensure that employee happiness is always central to any group-level business decisions.
“I’m looking forward to launching new programmes such as individual career development plans, which will be a step in the right direction to ensuring that we are championing our people’s growth and development at every stage.”
Harpreet Bushell, Group Chief Growth Officer, LAB Group, added: “At the heart of LAB Group is an understanding of people, what they want and what they don’t know they want. As the group and our specialisms grow, we can take psychology, neuroscience and behavioural economics principles and apply them to more and more channels and avenues, in order to better serve customers and grow businesses. As we adapt to the impact of a global pandemic, there’s never been a better time to harness our expertise in digital and human behaviour to make a difference to our clients and to society, more broadly.”