Advisory Board

Jonathan is the Chairman of creative brand agency, ‘Born Ugly’ and remains the majority shareholder of global brand design agency Elmwood. His work has taken him all over the world from New Zealand to North America and throughout Asia and Mainland Europe advising some of the biggest brands on the planet. His businesses have won more Design Effectiveness Awards than any other alongside awards for ‘Best Company To Work For’ by The Sunday Times and The Yorkshire Post and various individual awards for business leadership. Jonathan is an industry commentator and keynote speaker having spoken at conferences all over the world from India to Finland, China to America and throughout Europe. He is a former council member of both the RSA and the Design Council where he served for ten years and a former Chairman of the Design Business Association.

Jonathan is a ‘Visiting Professor of Innovation’ at Huddersfield University where he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science in 2002. In 2011 he was awarded an OBE in HRH The Queen’s New Year Honours list for his services to the creative industries.

Beyond the creative industries Jonathan is also Non Executive Chairman of the digital veterinary business Vet Ai which uses artificial intelligence to diagnose pet illness through the Joii APP and finally he is a trustee of the Royal Armouries where he Chairs their commercial arm RATE.

Outside work, Jonathan is a proud father of three, a long-suffering Derby County supporter and an alpaca farmer.

As a Strategic Consultant advising charities and companies, Rachel has always worked in the third sector, primarily with Cancer Research UK, building and heading up their phenomenally successful 5km women’s event: Race for Life. She then moved into more strategic roles to grow and develop new income streams.

She was appointed as the inaugural CEO of Lawrence Dallaglio’s charity Dallaglio RugbyWorks, strategically shifting it from grant giving to having their own service provision with a national employability skills programme working with disengaged young people. Passionate about social mobility she works with business to help implement and active their D&I agendas.

Rachel is also a Trustee of House of St Barnabas, a social enterprise that supports the homeless into work based in Soho.

Dino Myers-Lamptey is the Founder of The Barber Shop, a strategy-led creative company that aims to solve the biggest business problems through data, distribution and disruptive ideas. They work with businesses that are driven by a purpose and which strive to enrich culture through the pleasure that they bring. Their clients include Karma Drinks, Triumph, TikTok and Parkinson’s UK. Dino is Co-Chair of The Alliance of Independent Agencies, CAN (Conscious Advertising Network) and is also a board member of the UK Effies, Marketing Society and a NED for the Brixton Finishing School and a member of the Global Snap Creative Council. In 2020 Dino was recognised as a Top 10 Media Planner by Campaign. Dino is also a founding member of MEFA (Media For All), and has recently founded Diverse Speakers.

Jody is a business development expert who works with leadership at small marketing agencies. She helps them generate revenue by demystifying and simplifying the process of pitching new business. Her programs are easy for small agencies to embrace because they take both the agency’s strengths and available resources into consideration. She started The Sutter Company after more than two decades of running business development teams for agencies, large and small and spanning a diverse list of disciplines. They’ve included R/GA, OMD, Havas Media and The VIA Agency. Jody frequently speaks at leading industry events around the world such as INBOUND, the ICA’s Agency Transformation Summit in Toronto, The Drum’s Pitch Perfect new business conference in London, and is a featured instructor in the 4As Learning & Development program. Her new book, A Small Agency’s Guide to Winning New Business: 8 Steps to Winning More of the Right Kinds of Clients, is now available on Amazon.com. More information about Jody and The Sutter Company can be found at www.thesuttercompany.com or by emailing Jody at jody@thesuttercompany.com

Jody Osman has been working within the marketing industry for over 20 years and has outstanding knowledge on how to win new business. He is currently the Group Director of Business Growth for The Propeller Group, as well as the Co-Founder for both The BD100 and Tanba. By being the Co-Founder of The BD100, Jody has showcased the greatest talent within the world of business development.

Diana Tickell is the CEO of NABS, having joined the organisation in 2015 from Barnardo’s, where she was Deputy CEO and Executive Director of Marketing following a successful agency career.

Since joining NABS, Diana has led the growth of the organisation’s wellbeing services, fundraising activity and campaigning, enabling NABS to support more individuals than ever before.  Diana is a founding member of the timeTo Campaign to end Sexual Harassment in the Advertising Industry and an active member of WACL, leading the Support Committee as a member of the Executive focused on WACL’s purpose of accelerating gender equality.

Appointed to the WACL Executive to lead the Support and Inspiration Committee. In addition served on the Future Leaders Awards (FLA) Committee awarding a record number of grants to aspiring female leaders and member of the WACL Gala committee raising vital funds for charities.

Active Ally supporting both Media For All (MEFA) and Outvertising.

Mentor.

Friend of Peterhouse, NABS previously owned Care Home in Bexhill on Sea, providing activities and visiting service to older people who themselves or their families have been involved in Advertising.

When it comes to business development, I’ve witnessed the good, the bad and the ugly. In fact, I’ve been responsible for my fair share of the latter, making a whole load of cringeworthy mistakes in my agency days (totalling 15 years, in case you’re wondering). But that’s how you learn, right?

Anyway, back to the ugly stuff. I think there’s too much of it when it comes to how agencies and clients approach working together; too many ingrained behaviours and processes that ultimately benefit neither party.

So, I’m on a mission to make things better. And I believe this begins by helping agencies improve how they think about and approach business development, challenging practices that are too often weighted in favour of clients.

As well as my work with agencies, I’ve had words published on Econsultancy and in The Goods magazine, whilst also featuring on numerous podcasts. I have also been acknowledged as one of the UK’s most influential business developers in The Drum’s BD100.

Away from work, I am a proud father, dog owner, music lover, DJ, qualified football coach, budding photographer and craft ale enthusiast.

Richard Mchardy has been working within the marketing industry for almost 25 years, and has an in-depth knowledge of business development and agency matchmaking. He is currently the Founder of The McHardy Collective, as well as the Co-Founder for both The BD100 and Tanba. His company, The McHardy Collective, brings together both agency connections and brand contacts to create relationships that work well together.

As Managing Partner, Laura is responsible for business development at Karmarama, driving growth across the agency’s core services for the last eight years.

Prior to this, Laura was Head of New Business at Direct and Digital marketing agency, Elvis. Here she led their largest ever pitches, contributing to the agency being named MAA and Campaign’s Agency of the Year.

Laura started her marketing career in publishing at Penguin Random House, as part of the team to transition the travel imprints across to digital platforms for the first time.

Laura is Co-Chair of the IPA new Business & Marketing Group, Management Today’s 35 Under 35 2020 and named in The Drum’s BD100 2020 list. She is a Marketing Academy Scholarship alumna and WACL Futures Leaders Award winner. She has since founded FUTURES, a network for the award’s alumni in partnership with WACL and NABS.

Katie is the Founder of Street Agency and well known as the agency new business host for the top 20 ranking Marketing Podcast – Word on The Street.

Renowned in the industry for helping agencies attract and win new business with major brands, Katie has also been awarded by both The BD100 and BIMA for her efforts in the world of agency business development and marketing. She Co-Chairs a New Business Peer Support Group for BIMA and mentors many agency groups and leaders for BIMA and Silicon South across the UK, meaning she has lots of hands-on experience and her finger firmly on the pulse for what’s working (and what isn’t) for agencies when look to win more new business.

At Street she creates and guides the implementation of new business and marketing strategies for clients including Summit Media, Tribal Worldwide London, Keel, TCC, BOX UK, and Collaborate as well as leading Street’s own new business strategies.

Ryan Hall, has built a career transforming how B2B sales is done and sustainable, scaled pipelines are built.

Ryan has succeed through agencies in leadership roles such as Nice, Karmarama, Accenture and TH_NK. Including two successful exits. But also working with a range of B2B businesses build pipelines worth a combined £15,000,000 over the last year alone.

With this proven track record in creating business value and his unique set of skills, The Zeitgeist works with digital businesses quickly maximise the potential of their businesses and manage the issues that can come with accelerated growth.

Stephen Knight is a former Advertising Executive, Brand & Marketing Director and CMO with over 35 years sales and marketing experience. Stephen has held a variety of senior positions at major international advertising agencies. Five years with the Walt Disney Company latterly as Senior Vice-President of Marketing and Brand Management for EMEA. In 2003, he joined Creata, a global promotions agency as their European MD. Having worked successfully above and below the line, client and agency side, he felt it was time to do his own thing and founded Pimento in 2005, the UK’s leading independent agency network. From 2013-2016 Stephen extended his role at Pimento with interim contracts at SSE plc as CMO.  In addition to his responsibilities at Pimento he is the Chairman of Ultimate Travel Club (Travel interrupter), a Founder of Now Next Why (Marketing Management Consultancy), Director of Premier Consultants (Marketing Recruitment Agency), Director of the Alliance of Independent Agencies (Membership organisation) and a trustee of the Ebico Trust.

Martin Jones started his advertising career as New Business Director at J. Walter Thompson (now WundermanThompson) before joining AAR in 1997 and subsequently purchasing the consultancy from the founder Lyndy Payne. Since then, he has spent over twenty years as Managing Partner where he has worked with hundreds of clients, advising them on the most appropriate agency for their needs. These include some of the most high profile brand owners in the country including Comparethemarket, DFS, John Lewis, KFC, Lucozade and Virgin Media.

This experience provides a unique perspective in understanding what clients look for (and dislike) when looking to appoint a new agency from both an emotional and practical perspective. He is currently writing a book detailing his experiences of pitch highs and lows and some of the shocking mistakes made by agencies.

He also advises agencies on their credentials and positionings through his Dr Jones consultancy, and also mentors New Business Managers and Directors to provide them with an outside perspective on anything and everything related to new business.

Outside of the world of new business, he is a passionate fan of Brighton and Hove Albion.

Mike Lander is a successful entrepreneur and expert negotiator with a proven track record of buying, growing, and selling businesses for seven-figure sums. He’s raised over £6.5m of acquisition/growth capital in his career and grown companies to over £20m revenue and £4m EBITDA.

Mike has a uniquely valuable perspective on negotiating commercial deals, having worked on both sides of the table as a Procurement Director and an entrepreneur. In one of his roles, Mike worked as a Procurement Director for what is now one of the world’s largest RPO/MSP organisations worth in excess of $1bn where he negotiated 100s of deals with staffing agencies.

He launched Piscari in 2010 and leveraged his specialist knowledge and experience negotiating hundreds of deals worth over £400m in total to empower leaders and sales teams to negotiate more profitable deals, especially when procurement are involved.