Please cast one vote for the agency leader detailed below who you feel deserves to collect this year's Managing Director of the Year award at next month's MiAwards ceremony.
The Public Vote Section will remain open until Monday 28th October.
For more information on MiAwards 2013 please visit the MiAwards website.
To vote on your Creative Director of the Year Click here.
Rebecca McKinlay - Ambition
Leading Ambition to even greater success in 2012 / 2013. A successful re-positioning to focus on particular specialisms in consumer and trade marketing resulted in Ambition being named Channel Marketing Agency of the Year in the CRN Awards. Having grown steadily over the last 7 years, Ambition were named London’s 21st Independent Agency in RAR 2012 League Tables and now employ 15 staff (12 full time, 3 part time) working across a diverse client list in B2B and B2C sectors. Key clients include BlackBerry, Canon UK, Budget Rent a Car, Harlequins FC, DeepStore, Uni-Pay and The Isle of Wight Festival.
Patrick Howells - Fresh
Patrick joined The fresh Group in 2006 and was appointed Managing Director in 2012 and he has worked tirelessly to make Fresh a truly profitable, award-winning business. Under his leadership, the business has shown consistently high year on year growth and recently announced FY13 figures - another record breaking year for fresh – with turnover at £13.62M and profit at £1.05M - an increase of 26% on the previous year’s PBT. Patrick comes from a sales background and has always had a strong focus on new business. Projections for fresh for FY14 are currently circa £17M sales and over 50% of this business is already confirmed. This uplift in profit comes from a combination of development of existing client relationships and significant new business wins. Headcount has increased steadily and now stands at 86 people which includes fresh exhibitions, a division created only last year but which is on track to deliver sales of £900k in its first full year of trading. In 2013 The fresh Group was named RAR Number 1 Agency, as well as being awarded the Grand Prix award. The Group also boasts a number of other prestigious accolades and awards, but the one Patrick is most proud of is their inclusion in The Sunday Times Top 100 Companies. Patrick's personality, ability to get on with everyone and keen sense of humour make him the perfect spokesperson for the company. Or as they say - the face of fresh.
John McLeish - Equator
2013 has seen Equator MD John McLeish evolve his business into a truly global enterprise, launching its first international office in New York and a development base in Kiev. The company’s Glasgow headquarters has seen tremendous growth, with staff numbers up from 68 in September 2012 to 102 at present. Under John’s leadership, Equator this year secured new business from leading UK and global brands including Disney, Tesco Bank, Rocco Forte, Britannia Hotels, Pontins and TechSpace in the US. 2013 will see Equator report a record turnover of more than £10m, up from £8.6m last year.
Natalie Gross - Amaze
Natalie is both MD and CEO at Amaze and has led the company through another strong year with continued growth both financially and by expanding their global client base and capabilities. She has been a major player in the digital industry for almost 15 years and most significantly this year, Natalie led the sale of Amaze to St Ives Group, a major milestone in the company’s history. The new ownership is fundamental to the growth of the company moving forwards, providing the company with the support and investment to accelerate its growth and expand into new territories, a key focus for this year.Natalie is also on the Executive team at BIMA, and chair of the new Education and Public Policy working group championing the issues facing our sector. In her role, Nat is helping to drive the skills and talent agenda for the digital industry, aiming to promote the issues that are hindering the growth of our buoyant industry at the highest level. Skills and talent has long been a key focus for Nat and prior to chairing the education group she played a key role in BIMA’s D-Day 2012, promoting our industry to the younger generation. As a result of her passion for the industry, Nat was included in this year’s Digital Hot 100 and shortlisted for The Drum Digerati.
Gary Boon - Shout
Gary left behind a stable career and considerable success to found Shout just as the recession hit rock bottom, and he’s continued at the helm of Shout with similar audacity. It works: he’s guided the multi-award-winning agency to incredible success in record time and defied economic doom and gloom. But all that said it’s simple for Gary. Given an exciting project to tackle with his team on behalf of a new partner, he’s a happy man. What’s more, he’s built a vibrant and free-thinking culture in which the digital experts he’s handpicked to build his vision can flourish.
Jim Coleman - We Are Social
Jim runs We Are Social’s London headquarters overseeing a client base that includes adidas, Jaguar, Heinz, Unilever, Mondelez and many more. Under Jim’s guidance, We Are Social London has grown from 60 people to 115 over the last 18 months, with fee income doubling year on year and a 95% client retention rate. Jim also supports the company at a global level, helping transform the agency from a small company to the biggest specialist social media agency in the world, and one of the marketing industry’s greatest success stories of recent years.
Joe Birkedale - Catalyst
How do you turn an internal marketing team into a profitable, full service marketing agency? And how do you do it quickly? That was the challenge presented to Joe Birkedale when he joined Shire Business Group in February 2013, one which he relished and was soon able to prove his worth by increasing the turnover by 48% for F/Y 2013/14 to around £500k from £323k in F/Y 2012/13 – and turning the business to a profit of around 18%.Shire Marketing Services was established in 2011 as a division within Shire Business Group, which provided financial services to SMEs across the UK.With an established team already in place, the first hurdle was to manage the change in directorship and reassure the team that he wasn’t here to shake things up beyond recognition. Their confidence won, he then started to shake things up beyond recognition. But it was done in a way that meant ongoing success for him, his team, and the agency they created together under his direction.New brand and identity. New ethos and values. New services, and new objectives. More importantly, new clients and new revenues. Add all that to a team with a renewed sense of enthusiasm, value and enterprise, and you have the catalyst for a new agency. Turning an internal function into a full service agency presented many challenges. The speed of these changes meant the stakeholders in the business – employees, board and clients – needed reassurance that service levels would be maintained and enhanced, while increasing profitability.
David J. Brown - Ve Interactive
David Brown is a co-founder & CEO of Ve Interactive, and founded the omnichannel concept store The Clerkenwell Collection. David’s directed launches of ten international Ve offices and holds three Chairman positions. Ve was recently shortlisted for a National Business Award 2013 for ‘Digital Company 2013.’ Silver medal winner for Software Executive 2013 and bronze for Maverick of the Year in the International Business Awards, David’s committed to revolutionising the online efficiency industry. A thought leader, David’s also an ambassador for Concern Universal.
Rob Shaw - Epiphany
In another record-breaking financial year, Epiphany staff numbers soared to deliver new client business. Rob faced a mammoth challenge: relocating a 100+ strong team into a new office while also embarking on a new strategic journey. Alongside implementing Epiphany’s new strategy, communicating the evolution of the company, Rob pioneered the office move in a way that made each individual recognise their role and importance in the company’s progression.Epiphany’s enviable retention rates (95% for clients and 96% for staff) demonstrate that Rob has driven Epiphany’s successful growth while nurturing existing relationships and delivering better results, for staff and clients alike.
Ben Rudman - MMT Digital
Ben is an incredibly supportive and charismatic Managing Director that leads by example. He works incredibly hard driving the company forward with strategic planning and brilliant client relationship skills.He ensures that the company pays for any training and organises the weekly “Lunch n Learn” enabling everyone to present on a relevant subject when they wish. Ben purchases lunch from the local bakery for everyone at each “Lunch n Learn” and also gets the cakes in for every office birthday.Ben is fundamental in raising funds for our chosen charity The Mango Tree. Recent efforts include climbing the Yorkshire 3 Peaks in 24hrs and racing a train up Snowdon.The company also finances 6 social events throughout the year and the Christmas party. Past locations include Paris and Edinburgh. This year it is Amsterdam!
