Worldwide Partners Welcomes New Next Gen Council

Worldwide Partners (WPI) is pleased to welcome the newest Next Gen Council members, a group of ten rising stars from our agencies in Asia Pacific, EMEA, Latin America and North America who are helping to inform and develop future-focused strategies for our global independent agency network.

Please meet the newest members of the Worldwide Partners Next Gen Council:

Laura Stayt - Co-Chair - President - Zambezi (USA)

Laura has spent 17 years working in advertising, starting in account management, and leading multiple world-class brand relationships such as Beats by Dre, Under Armour, PayPal, Airbnb, Nissan, Traeger Grills and many more. 

She started her career fresh from Oxford University at AMV BBDO in London, before moving to Los Angeles to join TBWA\Chiat\Day. After a period at Crispin Porter & Bogusky, she then joined independent, female-owned, integrated agency Zambezi five years ago, where she currently leads all day to day operations, maintains oversight of brand relationships, has close involvement in growth efforts, and continues to spearhead the development of global relationships and ways of working for the agency within the Worldwide Partners network.

Lindsey Patterson - Co-Chair - VP, Media & Publishing - R&R Partners (USA)

Lindsey brings a wealth of media intelligence and insight to her clients while also overseeing the agency’s key travel & tourism clients including the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Brand USA and Discover Puerto Rico. Lindsey works across all departments in developing smart, strategic media plans and campaigns that not only consistently win industry awards, but also deliver the kind of results and added value that have built world-class travel brands and destinations. 

Prior to joining R&R, Lindsey served as a strategist at OMD in Chicago, where she was responsible for media planning/buying on the Pepsi Co./Quaker Foods account. Her recommendations helped drive the Quaker brand in exceeding their sales goals. 

Khushboo Bhatt - CP & Head of Creative Growth - Blink Digital (India)

Khushboo has always been fascinated by ads and jingles and wanted to experience the behind-the-scenes world. This, combined with her growing interest in digital marketing during her MBA, ultimately led her to pursue a career in marketing. Today, Khushboo is the CP & Head of Creative Growth at Blink Digital, where she leverages her empathic nature to nurture relationships and connect with people on a deeper level. She is an inspiring team player, showcasing an exceptional understanding of the digital space, a humble and mature attitude towards her relationship with clients, and an incredible eye for understanding briefs and forward thinking. 

Peter Breiling - CEO of Digital + Change - Wächter Worldwide Partners (Germany)

Peter is a marketing and brand expert with strong focus on eCommerce, omnichannel-marketing, digital subscription business as well as content creation and brand communication. His leadership and change management competence helps to create and implement stringent and customer-centric corporate-, marketing and media strategies. He is a creative specialist for effective and measurable ATL- & BTL – communication with a deep experience in public relations and association work.

Federico Halsband - Managing Partner - Halsband Worldwide Partners (Costa Rica)

As Managing Partner of Halsband Worlwide Partners, Federico oversees the agency’s financial, strategic and operational approaches, with a focus on expanding international business. With a clear vision to innovate in collaborative industries, such as communications, technology, and coworking, Federico brings a  fresh, yet systematic perspective to the agency and their clients. 

Neale Madden - VP, Client Partnerships - Ammunition (USA)

As vice president of client partnership for Ammunition, Neale leads a portfolio of B2B and B2C clients, with relationships ranging from traditional creative to digital marketing and website development. She has led seven Addy-winning campaigns and brings her problem-solving attitude and ability to merge technology and creativity to her clients. 

Miriam Moertl - Deputy Managing Director - Ardmore (UK)

Deputy Managing Director, Miriam Moertl from Ardmore, Belfast, has grown with the Ardmore Group (and many of its clients!) since joining the Agency 11 years ago as account manager.

She’s passionate about people, growth and results- and enjoys both driving the development of those in the team around her and directly supporting her local, national and international clients to navigate challenges and achieve success.  

Miriam is excited to take that mindset into her role on the Next Gen Council to create and collaborate on new and existing initiatives for Worldwide Partners Inc. 

Rita Steinberg - Group Media Director - FUSE Create (Canada)

Rita brings over 15 years of experience to the ever-evolving media landscape. Initially starting on the client side, she found her niche in the agency world, where the diversity of clients, the pace, different disciplines, and opportunity to innovate, keep her continually engaged and inspired.

An active member of the CMA Media Council and frequent participant in industry events and panels, Rita excels in leveraging data-driven insights to achieve tangible outcomes. She appreciates how media in 2024 seamlessly integrates with technological advancements and human behavior, showcasing the complex interplay that shapes our perceptions and interactions. She believes in the power media has to connect, inform and inspire, always on the cutting edge of innovation and change.

Outside the office, Rita's curiosity drives her to explore all kinds of things. She loves traveling to new places, immersing herself in different cultures, and recently, she has ventured into the world of improv and sketch comedy. Avid reader, mediocre runner, reasonable snowboarder - she has many different interests and always adding more.

Anri Urano - Client Engagement Manager - Hylink Group (USA)

Originally joining Hylink in 2020 as an Account Coordinator, Anri has become an indispensable part of the client engagement team overseeing Brand USA and UCLA Health.

Anri’s portfolio of clients includes a multitude of industries: healthcare, pharmaceutical, and travel. She provides her clients not only with brand strategy and media planning but also with creative development, production, website management, and PR.

Her leadership skills have enabled her team to win 11 awards for Hylink Group - 2021 Summit Creative Awards Gold for Package Design, Bronze for Health/Medicine Marketing, 2022 Shorty Awards Golf for Accidental DEI Discoveries in Healthcare, 2022 Digital Impact Awards Gold for Best Use of Online Videos.

Luke Whitty - Account Director - LG2 (Canada)

Luke is a passionate accounts management professional with expertise in retail, food and beverage, education, and healthcare. Since joining LG2 in 2017, he has become known for his ability to organize and simplify some of the most complex project mandates and business problems while bringing his positive attitude and creative flair to everything he touches. Luke has led multiple award-winning campaigns, earning national and international recognition at Cannes Lions, LIA, Applied Arts, D&AD, Marketing Awards, and the ADCCs. Beyond LG2, Luke leverages his expertise by consulting on marketing efforts and butter tart quality assurance for 13th Street Winery. He also serves on the WPI Next Gen Council. 

The Next Gen Council was formed in 2022 with lofty goals in mind: to develop strategies for broadening awareness of and engagement with Worldwide Partners throughout each agency; to identify opportunities for expanding collaborations between Partner agencies; and to inform the evolution of our network’s offering to more effectively support our Partners, and their Clients, and to enhance the employee experience at Partner agencies. The first Next Gen Council cohort launched three major initiatives to address these goals: 

Global Mentorship Program

Our first year of the Global Mentorship Program had an impressive 150 participants from 45 agencies in 23 countries. This year-long program connected mentors and mentees across WPI agencies to establish relationships to gain new insights and perspectives, expand their network and grow together. We are excited to expand on the success of this program for a second year and anticipate even higher participation across the globe. 

Global Coworking Community

A fresh and modern take on your standard talent exchange program helping to reward, retain, and attract agency talent, the WPI Collaborative Coworking Community is a list of WPI agencies that have opened their doors to welcome visitors from the network to work remotely in their offices. We currently have 25 agencies in 13 countries on the list, and are always welcoming more to join!

Young Indies Creative Competition

The Young Indies was an exciting first for the network – a creative competition for employees with eight years of experience or less, who were tasked with answering a brief within 72 hours to solve a problem for global nonprofit charity: water. We had 23 teams participate from 15 agencies in 11 countries. The winner–The Dry Pledge from Canadian agency LG2–was announced on May 16 at our Global Summit in Mexico.  

“The Next Gen Council is helping to shape the network of the future,” said John Harris, President and CEO of Worldwide Partners. “We want to evolve, and this group – rising stars at their agencies who are in the work each and every day – has the knowledge, the skills, and the passion to make that evolution a reality.”

Please join us in welcoming this new group of leaders. We’ve been impressed with the level of passion, commitment and innovation from the first cohort and look forward to building on this success with this new Council group.