Razor Names Sharleen James as Managing Director

Razor Public Relations – a division of The Up & Up Group (the African affiliate of M&C Saatchi) – has appointed advertising and communications leader Sharleen James as its new managing director effective 1st February.

Dustin Chick, who founded the agency together with partners Christopher Lazley (as executive creative director) and Kalay Maistry (as head of client services) in January 2020 will become chief executive. Sharleen joins Razor from Accenture Song, where she was group managing director in South Africa. She is also a board member of the Association for Communications and Advertising South Africa (ACA). 

“Having worked so well with Sharleen for almost 10 years previously, it’s a major highlight of our journey that we now get to welcome her into Razor. She brings with her a set of critical skills we believe we need in a more complicated world, where PR continues to evolve so rapidly. Sharleen’s exceptional client services smarts, her sound, fair and kind leadership style and her ability to manage the demands of both scale and complexity are major aspects of our growth plans,” said Dustin.

Says Sharleen, “It is exactly this that attracted me to this role – the drive to do things differently and to do them better. Knowing I can bring 25 years of through the line learning to a PR agency focused on the future is exactly what attracted me to this role. I buy into Razor’s view of a more modern strategic communications business. Our proposition around ‘Powerful Conversations’ is relevant and distinctive, and I know that my knowledge about process, client delivery excellence and deep client relationships will bring a tremendous competitive edge to our whole team,”

“I have always admired the work that leadership team at Razor have achieved in making it the agency it is today. It’s incredibly exciting knowing that I get to play a part of this as we move into the future,” she said.

Says Jacques Burger, group CEO of The Up & Up Group, “Sharleen is a wonderful addition to Razor’s leadership team. She brings with her over 25 years of senior level account management credentials from agencies like Ogilvy and King James (now Accenture Song), as well as the skills we know we will need to scale Razor as part of its growth journey. She is a consummate client partner, with a deep passion for powerful communications and a unique ability to manage the competing challenges of scale and complexity”.