After just more than one year on the job as president of High Road Communications, Annalise Coady has left for an undisclosed position in Asia.
Three longtime staffers — Hugh Scholey, Sarah Spence and Katherine Fletcher — have assumed leadership of the agency with her departure. Scholey and Spence share the title of senior vice-president and partner, while Fletcher — by virtue of being the self-described “oldest oyster” — is now SVP and senior partner.
Coady, who joined High Road from parent company Fleishman-Hillard’s Middle East office in March 2011, worked with the agency’s management to implement the succession plan.
“We took a look at where the business is at now, what it needed and who is best qualified to lead it,” Scholey told Marketing. “One of the things we’ve always had over the years is a really rich culture, so we’re in a really good place to have ‘High Roaders’ lead High Road.”
Spence called the new management model a “natural transition,” since the agency’s three SVPs had been working closely with Coady prior to her departure.
“We were all closely aligned with Annalise and already had operational responsibilities as part of a managing partner model, so this just felt right for us,” added Fletcher. “I think it also felt very good that it’s a real expression of confidence in High Road by our parent company, Fleishman-Hillard.”
Under the new leadership structure, Scholey will continue to work closely with High Road’s West Coast operation. Working out of Ottawa, Fletcher will lead the agency’s digital division and also take responsibility for its Eastern Canada operation, while Spence will play a lead role in client relationships.
High Road recently brought onboard new clients, including Future Shop and Boston Pizza. Meanwhile, three campaigns the agency assembled for Xbox, American Express and Sunlife Financial are among the finalists at the Sabre Awards, the world’s largest awards competition for the public relations industry.
Spence said the agency’s short-term focus is on client relationships. “A healthy agency is an agency that has really close relationships with clients, understands its clients’ needs and responds, so our current clients always come first.”
The agency will also continue to drive on new business and employee engagement, she said.
It will also continue to push digital integration. Last year, approximately 35% of the agency’s revenue was derived from digital and social media, a number that will be closer to 50% this year.
High Road currently employs 95 people at its four Canadian offices (Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal) and an additional five people in its San Francisco office.
