Manchester’s Republic of Media, one of the UK’s leading independent media agencies, has announced a major management restructure.
A new board will be led by Managing Director Simon Crunden, supported by Gill Jarvie, Director of Client Services Edinburgh, Charlotte Bell, Director of Insight and Strategy, and Leigh Herbert, Director of Client Services Manchester.
A new holding company has also been created – The Freethinking Group – which will wholly own the existing Republic of Media limited. Stuart Feather, founder and formerly joint Managing Director will transition to Managing Director of the Group, alongside founding directors Nick Cross, Hugh MacLaren and Carl Brady and Republic of Media MD Simon Crunden.
The Freethinking Group will task the Republic of Media board with growth objectives, and allow current and future employees to “explore entrepreneurial initiatives and launch new businesses”.
Herbert will have responsibility for driving the growth of the business from the Manchester office, while Jarvie will be responsible for continuing growth from Scotland.
Crunden said: “2018 was the best year in our short history with 43% billings growth and a string of fantastic achievements for our clients. We feel now is the time to position the company for long term success.
“Bringing a new and dynamic leadership team to Republic of Media will maintain our agility and freethinking, while the group structure will encourage our staff to be entrepreneurial and build on our start-up culture.
“The role of the media agency is changing and clients expect high quality services in areas such as business intelligence and research, this structure will better facilitate the creation of world-class products and services in those areas.”
