Susie Lyons and Tricia Russo have been appointed to top strategy roles at DDB’s U.S. offices. Russo joins as DDB Chicago’s chief strategy officer while Lyons becomes head of strategy at DDB New York. Both Lyons and Russo will partner with their respective local office’s leadership and work alongside Eric Zuncic, DDB North America’s chief strategy officer, on formalizing the agency’s strategic thoughtware and developing new tools and resources.
Russo is a seasoned agency strategist with 15 years of shaping, growing and activating successful brands. With experience in almost every category, her philosophy is to build strategy through the lens of creativity. Prior to joining the DDB Chicago team, Russo most recently served as BBDO Atlanta’s chief strategy officer. Russo’s experience includes growing and reshaping agency strategy departments to respond to a constantly changing marketplace and the expanding demands of creativity. She has led multi-disciplinary teams to develop highly effective and impactful campaigns for a wide range of clients, including Hilton, Craftsman, BMO Harris Bank, Hotels.com, Heinz, HoneyBaked Ham, and Norwegian Cruise Line.
With nearly 15 years of agency experience, Lyons joins DDB New York most recently from Lifetime Networks where she drove brand and creative strategy as the network’s VP of consumer marketing. Prior to that she held strategy roles at agencies such as Deutsch and 180. Lyons brings a love for people and all things pop culture, two passions that have helped her develop emotionally resonant and culturally relevant ideas for a wide range of clients, including Target, Volkswagen, Nintendo, Expedia, Bacardi, Kia, The California State Lottery, Verizon Wireless, The U.S. Tennis Association, Universal Studios, Lexus and the American Red Cross at agencies across both coasts, winning numerous Cannes Lions and Effies.
Russo and Lyons are the latest hires made by Zuncic since he joined DDB North America as chief strategy officer in October 2017. At the beginning of this year James Lou joined We Are Unlimited as chief strategy officer, and in May Sam Renbarger was named group strategy director at DDB San Francisco. Additionally, this year DDB North America has won several new clients including Blue Moon, VMWare, and Symantec, and received awards at Cannes, the One Show, and D&AD.
