VMLY&R Hires Karen Boswell as First EMEA Chief Experience Officer

VMLY&R has announced the appointment of Karen Boswell to lead its experience practice in EMEA. Boswell will report to Jeff Geheb, global chief experience officer, and work closely with Andrew Dimitriou, CEO EMEA and Justin Pahl, CEO London.

Boswell will drive the creation of world-class solutions across products and services, experience platforms and business optimisation efforts. She will be responsible for ensuring the shape of the evolving CX model leverages technology to accelerate both brand marketing and business strategy, creating and establishing modern thinking to transform the complete connected consumer experience. She will work closely with the global CX practice at VMLY&R. 

Jeff Geheb said: “I’ve been impressed by the positive and impactful disruption Karen has brought everywhere she worked. I believe building business and brand growth through CX is imperative today and Karen’s career is a testament of those efforts in action. I am thrilled to have her join our team.” 

Andrew Dimitriou said: “Karen’s hire reflects our commitment to invest in our CX capability and build our Centre of Excellence in London. I could not think of anyone better suited to lead it. And I can't wait to see it translate into brilliant, creative and effective work for our clients."

Boswell previously held roles as head of innovation at Adam&EveDDB and global client lead at AKQA. She is also the founder of tech start-up THEI.A Cognition who are building a Neural Network that powers personalisation within immersive environments. She has worked across some of the industry’s most innovative campaigns including Waitrose’s ‘Live from the Farm’, Virgin Atlantic’s ‘#OneDay’ and the ‘Social Collection’ for M&S. She was one of the IPA’s Women of Tomorrow in 2016 and one of Google’s ‘Top 10 Female Creatives to Watch’ in 2017 and 2018. 

Karen Boswell said: “I’m incredibly excited to be joining VMLY&R at this pivotal time. The agency is being set up to bring together the best of modern business thinking, innovative design services and relevant emerging technologies to deliver full connected brand experiences to client partners and their consumers.” 

Boswell joins VMLY&R at an incredibly exciting time for the new agency network, building on the recent appointment of Justin Pahl as London CEO, the announcement of the EMEA leadership team, and the launch of three Centres of Excellence. EMEA is one of VMLY&R’s fastest growing regions with 35 new business wins in the last six months. 

The EMEA Centre of Excellence for CX based in London focuses on driving value from each interaction between a brand and a consumer. It brings human-centred design, creativity and technology together to create a connected consumer experience driven by insights and mapped to the bottom line to ensure growth across relevant white spaces.