Q2: Event Industry People News, Moves and Deals -

Welcome to the latest event marketing industry news digest, featuring updates on new hires, promotions, acquisitions and launches. Submit your news here.

Promotions & Hires

George P. Johnson experience marketing agency announced the promotion of Fiona Bruder to global chief executive officer. Bruder takes the helm from Chris Meyer who after 12 years of leading GPJ, was recently appointed ceo of Project, GPJ’s parent company. Meyer will continue to support Bruder during the transition and will assume the role of GPJ’s strategic executive advisor.

ADVOC8, a leading agency known for its expertise in experiential marketing and strategic brand engagement, announced the hiring of industry veteran Stacey Thorp as its new head of production. Thorp’s prior experience includes leading strategic events for a major show organizer and overseeing the Conferences & Events team at Freeman.

Inspira has promoted Brooke Stein to chief client officer and Ralph Failla to vp of experiential and production. Stein, previously vp of client leadership, will focus on deepening client relationships, enhancing strategic operations and positioning the agency for sustained success in its next chapter. Failla, formerly senior account director, will oversee the agency’s experiential and production division.

DesignScene has appointed Adam Proto as its new production director. In his most recent position as global events and marketing lead at HP Industrial, Proto managed multimillion-dollar trade show budgets and led large-scale global events. Prish Bigger is the agency’s new senior producer. Previously at AVANTGARDE, Bigger played a key role in shaping high-profile brand partnerships.

Sparks has appointed Caroline Sparkes as director of international marketing. Her career includes leadership roles at ustwo, George P. Johnson, Critical Mass and Momentum, and most recently as consultant and co-founder of Outskirt Collective.

Acquisitions & Mergers

Stagwell (STGW) announced the acquisition of JetFuel, an experiential marketing services agency. JetFuel will become a subsidiary of Stagwell’s integrated experiential agency TEAM.

Opus Agency has acquired The Company We Keep (The CWK), an Asia-Pacific-based experiential marketing agency. With offices in Australia, Singapore and New Zealand, The CWK is enhancing Opus Agency’s ability to provide comprehensive solutions on a global scale.

Awards

LEO Events was recognized at the Rocky Top Business Awards in Knoxville, TN. The awards recognized the fastest growing University of Tennessee alumni-owned businesses based on compound annual growth rate for gross revenue in the years 2021-2023.