Digital media, marketing and technology company Brave Bison has appointed Laura Crofton-Atkins as chief operating officer and promoted current COO Buster Dover to the newly created role of chief business officer.
The move is designed to “maximise operational efficiency, drive revenue and nurture talent in line with the company’s ambitious growth plans.” Both will report to executive chairman Oliver Green.
Crofton-Atkins was COO at Made to Engage when it was acquired by UNRVLD in 2022 and boasts an impressive twenty years’ experience in operations and delivery at the likes of Tribal DDB, POSSIBLE and Fortune Cookie. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a consistent ability to enhance agency operations, spearhead organisational change, and drive successful business transformations at scale. She has also played pivotal roles in a number of acquisitions and integrations, including the acquisition of Fortune Cookie by WPP and its subsequent merger with Possible, and more recently Made to Engage’s acquisition by UNRVLD.
She joins Brave Bison following a phase of substantial growth for the company, which acquired leading social and influencer agency SocialChain in March of this year, and will be responsible for championing operational efficiency, streamlining delivery and unifying culture across its four business units: Brave Bison Performance, Brave Bison Commerce, Brave Bison Media Network and SocialChain. As part of this, Laura will be leading on defining Brave Bison’s people strategy, with a primary focus on attracting, retaining and nurturing talent for continued growth, giving the business the ideal platform to scale further.
Existing COO Buster Dover takes on the new role of chief business officer as part of the executive restructure, which follows the recent appointment of Wavemaker’s Hannah Baker as chief marketing officer in August. A seasoned agency executive, Dover joined Brave Bison in September 2021 having previously held leadership roles at VCCP, MullenLowe and Zinc Network.
Dover’s new role will see him working with key talent across the business on new and existing clients to build custom solutions that help them capitalise on the complexity they face. He will also manage the company’s divisional leads – Hannah Kimuyu, MD of Brave Bison Performance, Pete Metcalfe, CEO of SocialChain, Ed Hornby, MD of Brave Bison Commerce and Adam Raw, VP of Audience Development for the Brave Bison Media Network – and will work closely with Crofton-Atkins and the rest of the leadership team to build a connected company culture.
Crofton-Atkins said: “Joining a company with so much ambition is truly exhilarating. I’m excited by the potential for our leadership team to drive innovation, build a truly unique culture and unlock new modes of growth for clients – I can’t wait to apply my experience and collaborate with some brilliant people to achieve that.”
Dover added: “I’m delighted to have Laura as part of the team, her knowledge and experience in driving operational success is well proven and the opportunity to fast track many of our ambitious plans with Laura and Hannah in place is huge. This progressive structure allows me to focus on where I can add most value to the business by helping our clients capitalise on the continued and varied digital complexity they face.”
