Leadership Appointments to Drive Growth
AGENCY NAMES TIFFANY COOK, PRESIDENT OF CONSUMER, AND KATIE HUANG SHIN, PRESIDENT OF TECHNOLOGY AND CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER
SEATTLE — Jan.17, 2018 — WE Communications today announced leadership appointments across the agency’s growing areas of business: Tiffany Cook, executive vice president and a 19-year agency veteran has been promoted to president. Tiffany will continue to oversee WE’s award-winning consumer sector. Chief Strategist and Executive Vice President Katie Huang Shin will assume the role of president, technology sector and chief strategy officer. Both appointments support the agency’s strategic priorities and commitment to propel its business forward.
“Both leaders have played instrumental roles in taking our business to the next level — expanding our capabilities and diversifying our client work,” said Kass Sells, president of North America. “These moves set us up to deliver even further on stellar client work that meet the demands of a changing market that is rich with opportunity.”
Tiffany Cook, President, Consumer Sector
As the president of consumer, Tiffany will intensify her focus on accelerating the agency’s work with consumer companies, building on the sector’s success of integrating social, digital, insights, influencer excellence and breakthrough creative for companies looking to increase their consumer engagements.
Since joining WE in 1998, Tiffany has provided strategic integrated counsel and led major integrated marketing campaigns for a wide range of clients, including AllRecipes.com, Microsoft, Safeway, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Victoria’s Secret, Woodford Reserve, and others. Appointed as the head of consumer sector three years ago, she brings extensive experience in brand reinvention, customer affinity and thought leadership through communications. Under Tiffany’s leadership, WE’s consumer sector has grown significantly, bringing in some of the world’s leading brands such as McDonald’s, Brother, iRobot and Volvo. In close partnership with Volvo North America, Tiffany’s team won the iconic Cannes Lions award for the Greatest Interception Ever Super Bowl campaign.
Tiffany has also contributed to the expansion of WE’s New York office with an emphasis on diversifying talent and the client roster. She has deepened the agency’s strength in developing programs to drive brand awareness across paid, owned and earned media. Her consumer sector’s Confluence program ensures that previously separated disciplines across the agency now work in an integrated fashion to drive more impactful results for clients. Tiffany has also taken on the responsibilities of North America marketing for WE, expanding her scope beyond client work to drive thought leadership and awareness for WE in the industry.
“Tiffany brings endless amounts of passion and creativity to our work with consumer brands,” said Sells. “At the same time, she is a model leader, cultivating an inspiring and high-performing team that delivers in spades for our clients.”
Before joining WE, Tiffany worked for Upside Magazine where she was a key figure in the creation and production of industry conferences for Upside. Tiffany received a bachelor’s degree in political science from University of Redlands. She has been recognized in PR Week’s inaugural PR Hall of Femme issue and was most recently recognized in Forbes. She will continue reporting to Kass Sells, president of North America.
Katie Huang Shin, President, Technology Sector and Chief Strategy Officer
Katie succeeds Dawn Beauparlant, who was appointed to the role of Chief Client Officer in March 2017 and will now devote more of her time to developing WE’s robust client portfolio and playing an active advisory role across a number of accounts, including Microsoft. Known for her strong agency and sector leadership experience across the globe, and reputation for high-performance management, Katie will oversee WE’s technology sector to advance strategic growth opportunities and fully leverage its position as the leading technology communications agency. This will include continuing to harness and expand WE’s strategic and transformative communication services for clients, helping them navigate today’s complex world in motion. As Chief Strategy Officer, Katie will continue to focus on client development and driving overall agency growth strategy, working across global agency leadership, sectors and services leads.
In her 20-year career, Katie has helped build and activate powerful technology brands in crowded and competitive markets. She has served as a trusted advisor to senior executives through technology and business transformation, crisis situations, M&A transactions, internal and external communications issues, and more. She has also led or managed hundreds of company and business initiatives, and guided some of the world’s leading technology companies, including Avaya, Check Point Software Technologies, Cisco, Compaq/HP, Huawei Symantec, Huawei Technologies, Informatica, Intel, Nortel, Novell, Oracle, RSA, SAP, Visa, and other business software and service providers.
Katie joined WE in 2015 as executive vice president, having previously spent more than a decade in various global executive management positions at leading public relations agencies in Omnicom and Interpublic Group. Earlier in her career, she also worked for local technology PR agencies and regional midsize communications firms, spearheading award-winning work for building brand, reputation and market leadership for technology innovators and midsize enterprise software providers.
“Our ability to communicate the impact of technology in today’s disruptive landscape is incredibly important to our clients across all sectors,” said Beauparlant. “Katie was made for this role, bringing an unmatched understanding for the market dynamics, threats and opportunities facing our clients today and tomorrow.”
Katie holds a doctoral degree in Organization Leadership from the University of San Francisco where she focused on total quality management (TQM). Katie will continue to be based in the San Francisco Bay Area and report to Chief Client Officer Dawn Beauparlant.
ABOUT WE
WE works with some of the most innovative companies on the planet — those focused on delivering the next big thing. With a media landscape that is moving, pulsing and constantly evolving, brands must navigate everything from industry disruption and technology shifts to stakeholder mandates and political headwinds. In turn, brand stories have to move with new velocity and sync across every device and platform. Using our Momentum methodology, we partner with clients to create transformative communications that are rooted in insight and drive big impact. Our fiercely independent mindset allows us the freedom to bring together the best talent, ideas and partners, through our revolutionary partnership approach, The PLUS Network, to create powerful, persuasive campaigns. Shiny accolades like Cannes Lions, SABREs, Best APAC Medium Agency and PRWeek Award for Best Use of Social Media/Digital adorn our offices. We’re global, speak 37 languages and we’re not much for standing still. But it’s not about us, it’s about our clients, their customers and setting their brands in motion. Time to move. http://www.we-worldwide.com
For more information, press only: Kara Kraft, WE Communications, (503) 443-7143, [email protected]
