16024: Grey Tries To Get In The Black…

 

AgencySpy reported that Grey New York hired its first-ever SVP of Internal Culture and Communications. Of course they did. According to the pseudo press release, “The aim of the hire is to bolster a healthy internal employee culture, which the agency sees as essential to producing high quality creative work.” Right. How convenient that the move also allows the White advertising agency to check boxes for its faux DE&I initiatives.

 

Grey NY Hires Adrian J. Hopkins as First SVP of Internal Culture and Communications

 

By Kyle O’Brien

 

Grey New York has hired Adrian J. Hopkins as its first-ever senior vice president, internal culture and communications. The aim of the hire is to bolster a healthy internal employee culture, which the agency sees as essential to producing high quality creative work.

 

“Given our hybrid dynamic, the way we communicate internally is not only a reflection of Grey’s culture but also a mechanism to evolve and nurture it,” said Amber Guild, Grey New York CEO in a statement regarding the new position. “We’re a studio of more than 450 people from different disciplines, and it’s critical everyone understands our work, as well as what it means to be creatively driven, impact-focused and centered on the human.”

 

Hopkins was most recently senior director of internal communications at General Assembly, a global provider of tech education. Prior to that, he spent five years at The New York Times, where he overlapped with Guild and COO Nur El Shami.

 

At the Times, Hopkins was the architect of the company’s first global employee mentorship program, which supported more than 450 employees in 19 countries and delivered more promotions and lower turnover for its participants than the general employee population, particularly for staff of color. He also led the strategy for providing professional coaching, and as co-chair of the Black@NYT employee resource group, he advised the development of the company’s inaugural diversity report. Hopkins received the Times’s highest employee recognition––the Publisher’s Award –twice during his tenure there.

 

“Nur and I both admired how Adrian made an indelible impact on the culture of The New York Times, with so many employees crediting his programs as reasons they were proud to work there,” added Guild. “That track record makes us and our entire New York leadership team excited to have him help us live our agency’s core values of being empathetic, inclusive, curious, entrepreneurial, ambitious and fearless.”

 

In his new role at Grey New York, Hopkins will lead the creation of content and experiences that help employees feel connected to leadership and each other in a hybrid working environment. His responsibilities include programming all-agency meetings, organizing forums for dialogue between leadership and employees, as well as employee experience functions and DEI issues, and collaborating with counterparts within the AKQA Group and WPP. He will report to Alice Norcia, executive president, communications.

 

“Advertising, with its power to shape the culture we all live in, has a unique ability to lead how creative professionals experience the future of work,” Hopkins said in a statement. “I’m especially honored that Grey New York leadership saw in me an opportunity to tap someone with a nontraditional creative background to help lead on pivotal questions about team connectedness.”