Initiative appoints former Publicis Media’s Scott Laird to director of people and culture role

National media agency Initiative is accelerating its focus on helping brands take the initiative in culture with the appointment of Scott Laird as director of people and culture. He will be a member of the Initiative National Senior Leadership Team.

Says Melissa Fein, CEO, Initiative Australia: “Our business is rapidly moving to a new competitive positioning where we are delving deeply into cultural and growth analytics that lead to enhanced growth for our clients’ brands.

“Scott will play a key role in developing and driving the people and culture programs that underpin our transition. He is a passionate and high-energy professional with a very important role to play for us.”

Laird has been people and culture manager at Publicis Media for the past two years working across all Publicis’ ANZ media brands and has led the group’s learning and development programs. His HR experience began within Publicis’ creative agencies before moving to media. His career has also seen him working as an athletics coach in Australia, playing professional hockey in Europe and a four-year stint at a special behavioural-support school.

Says Laird: “The drive by Initiative in transforming its competitive positioning is very compelling and a highly attractive challenge from a people and culture perspective. The team is quite new but has already achieved so much and I am very keen to offer my support to their future culture and brand focus.”

He will start work in his national role at Initiative this week, based in Sydney and will report to Fein.