From Growth to Gold: Scaling and selling your agency

Richard Gregory, Co-Founder at AgencyNXD
Ben Taylor, Head of Digital Media in the North at KPMG
Steve Kuncewicz, Head of Creative Digital and Marketing at Glaisyers
Mike Crook, Managing Director at Nimbus

Michael Gibson – CEO at Fuuse

Michael joined Fat Media in Lancaster as MD and sold the agency in 2014. He remained to lead a merger with Motive Technologies and stepped down with sales over £3m and 90 staff. He now has a portfolio career spanning consultancy for M&A companies advising both sellers and buyers. He is a director and investor in UK Bathroom Store and Fuuse, an industry leading charge point management system. Michael is passionate about helping companies to reimagine their structures and revenue streams.

Dan Appleby – Managing Director at Drummond Central
Sam Gregory – Co-CEO at Tangerine

Sam worked with PR agencies Arena, Triangle and IAS before joining Tangerine in 2011 to head up the agency's new B2B offering and was subsequently appointed joint CEO together with Mary Harding. In 2017, Tangerine became an employee-owned agency. Tangerine’s turnover is now above £5m and the agency employs 110 staff. Sam is delighted to be able to share her experiences and insights about the transition to staff ownership.

Dan began his career with London agency gyro in 2002 before moving to Newcastle in 2008 to join Gardiner Richardson. He joined Drummond Central in 2016 and was appointed MD in 2018. In April 2023 he led the Employee Ownership Trust acquisition of Drummond from the founders Julie and Steve Drummond. The agency now employs 60 staff and clients include Bet365, Greggs, Amazon and the NHS and Dan is equally pleased to share and discuss his experience about the whys and wherefores of becoming an employee-owned business.

Dean Lovett - CEO at McCann Central and Chairman at McCann Manchester
Neil McKay - CEO at Endless Gain

In addition to his role as CEO at McCann Central, Dean was recently appointed Chairman at McCann Manchester to focus on growth, collaboration and operational excellence. He is responsible for six offices across the UK specialising in integrated comms and award-winning creative, providing a range of best-in-class services including: strategy, research and planning, design, creative and Craft, broadcast, digital, PR, social, influencer, employee engagement and media.

Neil began adult life as a professional footballer before he became one of the UK's most prolific digital entrepreneurs, starting with Global Media's MBO and subsequent sale before moving on to digital agency Lakestar as MD where he oversaw the agency's growth to a successful nine figure sale to IPG's McCann Manchester. He subsequently launched conversion rate optimisation agency Endless Gain in 2016 which he sold in 2023 to listed Danish company Columbus for £3m. Neil's session will undoubtedly prove to be a compelling 30 mins of frank and informative insight.

Robin Skidmore – CEO at Journey Further

Robin launched his first agency in 2005 - Epiphany Search which grew organically to over 150 staff before it was acquired by Jaywing Plc in 2014. He launched Journey Further in 2017 and the agency now has revenue of above £10m and over 170 staff. Robin relocated to New York in 2022 to support the agency’s US operation. He is also an investor and advisor to several successful UK tech startups. Robin's two digital agency journeys along with his broader commercial experience will provide a fascinating insight into how ambition, risk and opportunity can work so successfully.

Jess Brindle - Portfolio Finance Director at Sedulo
Karl Loudon - CCO at Rise at Seven
Nicky Unsworth – Former CEO at BJL
Rob Morrice - CEO at Stein IAS

We are delighted to have secured the engagement of three outstanding and extremely successful leaders in the communications industry for our concluding session. With some incredible collective experiences at some of the best known agencies, we'll delve deeper into the businesses they grew, scaled and sold, as well as the lessons learnt along the way.

Nicky began life as a marketer with Pilkington's before joining the independent agency BJL where she and colleagues undertook an MBO. Despite challenging global economic conditions the agency managed to grow their profitability while refocusing their core services. Global network Dentsu acquired BJL in 2019.

Rob Rob spent his formative years with Scottish advertising agencies before co-founding Smarts. He gradually increased his holding in Smarts to 50% and in 2000 they accepted an offer from Citigate (part of Incepta) for £2.5m. In 2005 he accepted an offer from Media Square plc to run the B2B agency IAS in Macclesfield and he subsequently led a merger with Stein in the US and further offices have been established in Europe and Asia.

Karl is a commercial agency leader with over 20 years experience in high growth startups, network agencies and global enterprises including board positions at Reprise IPG, digital product agency Mubaloo and more recently as Chief Commercial Officer at Rise at Seven. He is on a mission to destigmatise sales in the creative world and build a more inclusive future for commercial teams. He has created commercial & delivery teams responsible for over £20m in annual revenue.

Led by Richard Gregory, Co-Founder at AgencyNXD

Nenad Simonovic, UK Head of Digital Media at KPMG
Daniel Varney, Head of Corporate at Glaisyers
Mike Crook, Managing Director at Nimbus