Melissa Jackson Parsey Appointed Global Chief Strategy Officer at R/GA
R/GA, the global creative innovation company, today announced it has promoted one of the industry's most innovative thinking strategic leaders, Melissa Jackson Parsey, as its new global chief strategy officer. This is a key move for the company that reinforces its ambition to be the creative leader for the intelligence age, Melissa will be responsible for the continued evolution of R/GA’s strategy offering, growing a team of diverse talent, and partnering closely with clients across industries and markets to solve their most pressing challenges. She will report to Robin Forbes, global CEO R/GA.
In her new role, Melissa will lead a global, inter-disciplinary strategy team empowered by data and technology, focused on delivering more connected, impactful, and measurable experiences. As its new global chief strategy officer, she will play an integral role in helping to shape the strategic vision for clients and the business alike. Her appointment comes at a time of accelerated growth and creative momentum for R/GA, following its transition to independence in partnership with private equity firm Truelink Capital in March. Since then, the company has picked up major new clients such as LinkedIn, invested in creating a new Global AI Products team, taken a new proprietary AI Search Optimisation Platform to market, and launched new AI-enabled creative work for brands such as AB InBev, Google and Moncler.
“Melissa is the kind of leader who sees around corners,” said Robin Forbes, global CEO of R/GA. “She understands not just where the industry is going, but what clients need right now. Her ability to blend strategic clarity with creative ambition makes her exactly the right person to help lead R/GA’s global strategy team into our next era.”
“In a time when our clients are navigating transformation, complexity, and growing pressure to deliver returns on innovation—strategy must lead,” said Melissa. “I’m incredibly energised to take on this role at such a critical and exciting moment for R/GA. We have the opportunity to reimagine what design and technology can unlock for businesses and our industry. That’s the future I believe in, and the future we’re building at R/GA.”
Having previously led the reinvention of R/GA’s Brand Design and Consulting practice globally as its SVP managing director, Melissa helped that team to achieve its most awarded and commercially successful years to date. And over the past three years, Melissa has played an instrumental role in R/GA’s global leadership team - driving growth and helping design the next chapter of the company. With a global background spanning consulting, experience design, and brand strategy, she has proven to be a trusted partner to clients and an architect of breakthrough, technology-enabled solutions that sit at the intersection of creativity, innovation, and business transformation.
Prior to R/GA, Melissa worked at the award-winning, creative network B-Reel where she served as global chief strategy officer. Prior to this, she was head of strategy at one of the first agency/consultancy hybrids, co:collective, and also spent nearly a decade with WPP in multi-disciplinary roles across agencies. Over the course of her career she’s led brand transformation initiatives for a broad array of organisations, including: Microsoft, Under Armour, Google, IBM, the UN, and for Dwane (the Rock) Johnson’s portfolio. Her work has been recognised at every major creative and effectiveness competition.
