Thrive appoints senior PR directors in Melbourne
Announcement posted by Thrive PR 04 Feb 2020
Thrive PR + Communications Melbourne has appointed Lauren Nowak, SCMP and Phemmie Wilkinson to key senior roles on the back of significant growth for the agency.
Lauren comes on board to lead the Melbourne team as Business Director, to deliver impactful work for clients and enhancing a culture of growth and development for all Thrivers. She has over 11 years of communications experience in Australia, in-house and agency side, working across healthcare, financial services, regulation and the business sector. Most recently Lauren was at Red Havas, with previous experience at WE Buchan, City of Melbourne, EPA and Ambulance Victoria.
Phemmie joins Thrive as Group Business Director, as the agency lead for client, ANZ Group. She has worked in the UK and Australia on leading global brands including Lamborghini, HSBC, Menulog, O2 and Sport England. She joins Thrive from WPP owned The Origin Agency, having previously held roles at The Ideas Suite locally, as well as TLC Marketing and Cherry London in the UK.
Kelly Stambanis, General Manager Australasia of Thrive, said: “I’m thrilled to have Lauren and Phemmie on board in our Melbourne team on the back of a very strong 2019 for Thrive. Lauren brings an amazing outlook and focus to the Melbourne team, with an attention to detail that will help accelerate our further growth in this market and across our other offices. Phemmie is a delightful addition to Thrive, bringing her extensive experience in finance, automotive, hospitality and telco communications to the fore for our clients, in particular ANZ.”
Leilani Abels, founder and Managing Director of Thrive, said:
“In the last year we’ve invested significantly in initiatives around our people and culture, and it’s wonderful to see Thrive attract and retain great talent across each of our five offices. Most recently we launched a career acceleration program called Project Wings, that provides for more opportunities for promotions and it also includes a renewed Wellbeing Program, with a focus on the mental health of our team, and an agency-wide cross office Mentor Program. In the last quarter we made 22 promotions across the business at all levels. We look forward to building on Project Wings in 2020 as we continue to look out for more first-class talent to join our growing team.”
Lauren recently completed her Strategic Communication Management Professional (SMCP) designation through the Global Certification Council, which recognises highly skilled business communicators practiced in providing strategic communication advice and counselling to executive leadership.
Thrive is an independent PR and communications agency with five offices in Australia and New Zealand. Thrive prides itself on a ’corp-sumer' approach, delivering public relations and digital media services that combine corporate and brand communications under the one agency umbrella. Thrive’s clients include ANZ Group, Optus, Cisco, Didi, GoFundMe, GoPro, Spotlight Group, Indeed, Twitter, Porter Davis, Triumph, Expedia Group, Air New Zealand, Destination Gold Coast, OPSM, Nintendo and many more.