NEW YORK: MSLGroup has hired Stephanie Agresta as global director and leader of social media and digital.
She is reporting to Renee Wilson, president of MSLGroup North America, and working with leaders around the global network on social and digital vision, strategy, and talent. She is supervising 15 staffers, most of whom are based at MSL New York.
Agresta will also provide guidance and leadership to the more than 150 social media and digital professionals at MSL around the globe. She will also advise staffers who are involved in the development and execution of social and digital media communications as part of their client work.
After formally beginning work at the agency on Monday, Agresta is familiarizing herself with accounts and digital needs.
“One of the biggest challenges we will face in 2013 is building teams of talent and making MSL the digital employer of choice,” she said. “It's just so competitive out there. There are so many opportunities for digital talent.”
She will also focus on helping pharmaceutical clients be more active in the social media space, an area the industry largely avoids due to lack of regulatory guidance.
“They need to be educated about what is possible,” Agresta said.
Agresta was most recently EVP and MD of social media at Weber Shandwick, where she worked to scale digital PR services across the firm's network. She also previously served as EVP for digital strategy and social media at Porter Novelli.
In 2004, she founded Stephanie Agresta Consulting, a digital marketing shop that created partnerships with digital thought leaders and emerging technology companies.
In the course of her career, Agresta has developed digital and social media initiatives for major brands such as Samsung, Unilever, PepsiCo, Microsoft, HP, and Procter & Gamble.
In 2008, she launched “Bloggers Lounge,” a networking hub for digital media influencers at the South by Southwest conference.
Earlier this month, MSL let 15 employees in its New York office go as a result of a structure review set up to respond to the changing needs of the PR business.
