The Specialist Works opened a NY office

Cristina Blanaru Business, Creativity, People

An independent media agency, The Specialist Works (TSW) announced the opening of a New York office. The move comes as the agency reached to over £100M in billings last year and involved promoting multiple people and creating a new CEO and COO position.

From left to right: Martin Woolley, Jim Lewcock, Matthew Pover and Parry Jones

TSW is also expanding its global reach with the addition of a New York office, consolidating its US presence, which includes offices in Atlanta and Houston. The New York AV team will be led by Lori Robinson-Hogan, Executive Vice President, who previously launched and grew Starcom’s Halogen Media TV buying team.

Jim Lewcock, who founded the company in 2003, will take the title Founder and Developer and will focus on exploring new acquisitions in the UK and key eCommerce territories worldwide.

Martin Woolley, who has been with the agency since 2007, will step up to the position of CEO. Previously Group Managing Director, Woolley will take full day-to-day control of the business from Lewcock. He will work across the business to oversee US expansion and developing TSW’s services aimed at eCommerce and other fast-growth clients.

Parry Jones (formerly Managing Director, Print Media) becomes Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Matthew Pover (formerly Director of Global Strategy) has been promoted to Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). Jones and Pover will oversee all UK, Ireland and Germany client teams whilst concentrating on establishing the offices in Atlanta, Houston and New York. Jones and Pover will further focus on TSW’s vision for innovation and build on the agency’s client-focused strategy for growth. 

Verity Brown is also promoted to the UK board from Head of Planning, and will co-lead the team with TSW veteran Digital Strategy Director, Matt Whelan.

To reflect the new leadership structure, TSW has created an executive board comprising of Lewcock, Woolley, Jones, Pover and Finance Director James Moss. It will spearhead the company’s international offering and drive customer acquisition for clients.

Jim Lewcock, Founder and Developer, The Specialist Works:

These senior appointments are our evolution for TSW.  Martin, Parry and Matthew have been a big part of the strides we have in made in the last four years. I have every confidence in the team to take the business I started 14 years ago to the next level. I’m still going to be focused 100% on TSW, but I can now spend more time on big changes that make TSW more dynamic and productive for our clients.

Martin Woolley, CEO:

We’ve got big plans for the future and I couldn’t be more excited to start as CEO at a time of such transformation for the agency. We have exactly the right team to help us realise our international ambitions.

The expansion into New York represents further progress in The Specialist Works’ strategic objective to become the first global performance media network.

The Specialist Works is the only independent international brand performance media agency. It has a team of 140 people in offices located in UK, USA and Europe and partners in most major territories including Australia and Canada. The agency was recently named 2016 Media Agency of the Year (for the fourth consecutive year), at the Drum Network Awards.