London, England – 20 May 2024.
Chris Ward returns to The River Group as Chief Revenue Officer
After a six-year absence during which time he set up his own consultancy, and concentrated on his NED and Trustee positions, Agency veteran Chris Ward returns to The River Group amidst its post pandemic growth phase.
Chris previously worked with The River Group as Chief Growth Officer. This time around he will be Chief Revenue Officer, responsible for innovation and NPD working with CEO Nicki Murphy.
The River Group, which includes Reflect; the UK’s first diversity and inclusion-focused influencer agency and Maven PR has been at the forefront of content development and a pioneer in the commercialisation of content for thirty-years for brands such as Superdrug, Boots, Weight Watchers, Holland and Barrett and Vitality.
Nicki Murphy, “Innovation has always been key to River’s success. We push ourselves outside of our comfort zone to ensure we stay ahead in a very competitive market. We have in the pipeline a number of new products and services that have completed their prototype phase. We are delighted to have Chris to help bring these to market.”
Ward has over thirty-five years industry experience, starting life within Omnicom at Rapp where he worked both in the UK and US followed by stints at BBH Unlimited, CDP before setting up his own agency, Personal and later selling it to The Engine Group. He then went on to set up a service innovation agency with Amanda Phillips and in 2021 he started a solo consultancy Hibiscus together with NED roles for Karakoram, a humanitarian and environmental innovation agency and Togethr a social impact company. This alongside his role as Trustee for The Arts Society working on its innovation programme which has resulted in the launch of Cultur.art.
Chris says: ‘I genuinely love River. It knows what it’s good at, it pushes itself and places a huge emphasis, on evolving and developing, never resting on it’s laurels. It has a heritage of keeping blue chip brands for a very, very long time when average agency tenures are just over three years. But most importantly for me the board are hugely experienced with high emotional intelligence which reflects in the incredible way they treat staff and suppliers. As soon as you walk through the door, you know it’s a work party you want to be at. Delighted to be back.’
About The River Group:
The River Group is the UK’s largest independent integrated marketing services agency, specialising in strategy, motion graphics, video, TV production, OOH and podcasting. It was voted a top 20 London agency for value by Drum Recommends in 2023, and celebrated its 30th birthday on 14 May 2024.