Consistency and creating opportunity: Leadership changes at Harvard

After ten years leading Harvard, Louie St Claire is stepping up into a new role as non-executive Chairman from the start of April. At the same Ellie Thompson (current MD of the Harvard PR business) will step up to become the CEO of the company.

Under the leadership of Louie and Ellie, Harvard revenues have has grown by an average 24% every year for ten years, becoming one of (if not THE 😊) specialist technology marketing and PR agencies in the UK. From a traditional PR-base the company has made the transition to a true marketing services organisation growing from 10 to 85 people over the same period. It counts global technology leaders Cisco, Vodafone, Dropbox, Square, Bloomberg and NetApp amongst its client base.

Harvard has always tried to pioneer cutting-edge thinking on people, achieving The Blueprint Ally status earlier this month. Our NPS score for employees who would recommend Harvard as a great place to work has never fallen below 8 out of 10 and in the last 12-months, during the pandemic, we recruited 19 new people and promoted 22.

The leadership changes represent both consistency and opportunity for the brand. Louie will continue to work closely with Ellie on creative, new business and D&I efforts as well as providing some consultancy across the Chime group. We have exciting global future plans and they remain unchanged.

Ellie, with ten years under her belt at Harvard, will bring fresh ideas, an innovative approach to talent and consistency across people and clients, she is supported by an incredible team.

Harvard has real depth in all areas, with Andrew Last joining in 2020 as the MD of Marketing services, Harvard-stalwart Pete Marcus leading planning and strategy, Fiona Bates as Client Service Director, Georgina Greenspan as Business Development Director, Executive Creative Director Marc Allenby and PR Director Lorna Hughes.

Louie said “it’s been an incredible journey over 10-years and to share that time with Ellie has been the highlight of my career. We are a great team and I can’t wait to see the company progress under Ellie’s leadership, whilst having some time to look at other opportunities and ideas. It really is the best of both worlds.”

Ellie said “I’m excited to be stepping into the CEO role at Harvard. The technology market continues to underpin so much of the global economy and it is endlessly interesting and ever-changing. Harvard has an incredible opportunity to continue to place clients at the centre of the most important technology narratives and help them to make their move.”

Jo Parker COO of Chime added “I have had the pleasure of working closely with Louie and Ellie and the Harvard team for the past six years. They are constantly evolving and innovating and have an incredibly talented team across the agency. I have no doubt this next chapter, led by Ellie with Louie’s counsel will bring further opportunities for all. I would like to thank Louie for his leadership and all he has done for Harvard over the past ten years.”