The Madano team leaders becoming managing directors with immediate effect are Katy Compton-Bishop, Head of Healthcare; Gareth Morrell, Head of Insights; Matthew Houlsby, Head of Net-zero transition; and Reghu Venkatesan, Global Head of Healthcare.
The agency referred to the promotions as “integral next steps” in its growth plans, which will involve further senior hires in early 2024.
Madano said it aims to reach £20m in annual revenue within the next five years, having achieved £8m in UK revenue in 2022 according to PRWeek’s latest Top 150 rankings.
Michael Evans, managing partner at Madano, said: “We have had another excellent year to support our stellar growth over the past five years. Katy, Gareth, Matthew and Reghu have all played a massive part in this and now, as we gear up for our next exciting milestones, we need to put in place the very best structure possible to continue helping our clients shape the future.”
As a healthcare-focused comms agency, Madano’s clients include AstraZeneca Rare Disease, First Light Fusion, Novo Nordisk, Pharming and Roche.
Newly promoted healthcare bosses Compton-Bishop and Venkatesan have been with the agency for four and eight years respectively, each having more than 20 years of healthcare comms experience.
On his promotion, insights lead Morrell said: “These appointments really reflect the continued ambition of Madano. Putting strategic insights at the heart of what we do has been a critical factor in our success and I’m really looking forward to helping our fantastic teams take this to the next level.”
Having 20 years of experience in social and market research, Morrell has grown Madano’s insights team from three to 15 people over the past nine years.
Houlsby, who leads the agency’s net-zero transition practice, said: “The net-zero transition is changing the world forever, as we move to new, disruptive technologies in a range of sectors from renewables and nuclear fusion to aviation and artificial intelligence.
“Madano is at the heart of that change, and our business is going from strength to strength as we work with officials, politicians, investors and the media to shape the future and drive success for our clients.”
Before joining Madano, Houlsby spent 12 years as a civil servant and diplomat at the UK Foreign Office, ending his time there as head of media and press secretary to three consecutive foreign secretaries, including Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt.