Chicago hot shop, O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul is adding a new level to its creative leadership with the hire of Laura Fegley in the role of Chief Creative Officer.
The move comes following seven years of exponential growth at OKRP and the desire by agency founders to bring in a creative leader with big brand experience and an ability to inspire and build creative teams.
In announcing the hire, OKRP said that the agency began its search with a mandate to find the right person for the agency, its people and culture. A priority was to bring in a proven leader with the gravitas to enable them to focus on agency expansion.
“It’s very rare to find somebody who is both a perfect fit for the culture you’ve already got and the right person to push us to find a gear we didn’t’ know we had,” said Tom O’Keefe, CEO of OKRP. “When you look at the work Laura’s done, it’s exactly who she is in person. Smart, honest, with a sense of humor and always with soul. And that’s the secret weapon of the greatest creative leaders, where what you see is what you get.”
Named three times by Business Insider as one of the Most Creative Women in Advertising, Laura spent her first twenty years working at some of New York’s hottest agencies including Cliff Freeman, Merkley Newman, JWT, and as ECD at BBH before moving to Minneapolis to become ECD at Colle McVoy.
She has overseen groundbreaking work that includes Lets Fix Dinner for Stouffers:
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The moving Reincarnation launch of Mercedes C-Class:
The Healing Project – a social purpose campaign for Vaseline, the second year of The Most Interesting Man in the World campaign for Dos Equis:
More recently, Fegley was involved with the global brand launch and positioning of the Invisalign Brand.
“What’s great about OKRP is what should be great about an agency – the people,” said Laura Fegley. “They’re the rare bird that lives in the center of the Venn diagram of savvy, scrappy and soul. They get that being creative is actually solving problems creatively– always finding new ways, people and partners to solve business problems.”
She adds, “Creativity is hardwired into their culture – that’s a great platform to be stepping onto. Life’s too short not to work with genuine people and I’m so excited to join this talented family.”
Laura’s hire follows OKRP’s purposeful approach to adding new services, streams of revenue and most importantly talent. The agency has taken decisive moves to build an inclusive and diverse workforce.
The senior rank of its creative department is strongly female led, with women making up eight of the department’s 11 member creative director and higher positions. Overall, its staff is 59% female, 41% men, and 22% multicultural.
Laura assumes the role previously led by agency co-founder Matt Reinhard, who will shift focus to a new growth and innovation role within the agency to be announced soon.
Reel 360 wishes Laura all the best in her new role.
SOURCE: OKRP
