MullenLowe Appoints Kristina Jenkins as Head of Strategy in LA

MullenLowe welcomed Kristina Jenkins as its new head of strategy in its Los Angeles office. Kristina will oversee strategic direction for the agency’s roster of clients and its new business opportunities. She’ll work closely with the leadership team to inspire talent to take creativity to new levels by innovating around culture and how brands can contribute to it to reveal powerful strategic insights.

Kristina brings over 20 years of strategy expertise, having worked with brands including Disney, Google, HBO, Instagram, Hulu, FX, Taco Bell, Venmo, Reebok, Verizon and Marriott. Most recently, she held the chief strategy officer position at Eleven, where she was brought on to transform the agency to be more purpose-driven and to pioneer a more empathetic industry workplace culture where creativity and creators can truly thrive. 

Two years prior, Kristina was head of strategy at Cashmere Agency, where she set a new standard for its strategic capability and drove innovation at the intersection of intuition and data to solidify the agency as the 'world’s first culture agency' and earn it a spot as an Ad Age A-List Standout Agency. She served as Zambezi’s first chief strategy officer, where she doubled staff and billings, and she led the agency to be named Ad Age’s Small Agency of the Year in 2016. As director of cultural planning at McGarryBowen, she created the cultural strategy practice that dug in unexpected places to bring forth provocative thinking that consistently earned it Agency of the Year from Adweek and Ad Age.

Kristina is expert at creating a bold vision for what a brand can be and how it contributes to culture and at empowering client leadership to embrace the brave behaviors often required to realise that vision. She will be leading a passionate crew of strategists and working across the agency’s portfolio, which includes Acura, Corona, Grey Goose, Patrón, Hawaiian Airlines and the California Avocado Commission, among others. 

“KJ brings a palpable energy to strategic thinking,” Javier Passerieu, managing director at MullenLowe LA, said. “We’re excited to see her reignite our teams’ passion for unlocking insights to inspire bold work and exploring new territories with her culture-first approach.” 

“I’m about reimagining the way strategy and leadership have always been done, immersing my collaborators in fresh sources of insight and inspiring new ways of working together, all with the intention of elevating brands from talking about being culturally relevant to actually showing up like they are,” Kristina said. “There is a fearlessness, an appreciation of healthier working habits and a passion for creative possibilities meets international sensibility at MullenLowe LA that creates the powerful conditions for me to do just that.”