Cheil-backed agency also brings Melissa Fry aboard as director for people & culture, Jo Hayes as director of data insights, and Adam Smith as creative tech director
Barbarian, the digital creative agency backed by Cheil, has made a series of senior appointments, hiring Melissa Fry as director for people and culture, Shannon Rutkowsky as director of production and business management, Jo Hayes as director of data insights and analytics, and Adam Smith as creative technology director.
Fry, who had been with Keurig Dr Pepper, will report to Barbarian chief executive Steven Moy. Fry will scale and build a recruitment process for new talent and promote the agency’s progressive diversity and inclusion strategy. She will take on the key role of evolving Barbarian’s internal culture to make for an optimum working environment. Previously director of operations at Dr Pepper’s internal agency Liquid Sunshine, Fry has also served at agencies including Vayner and Crispin Porter+Bogusky and was studio manager for Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor.
Barbarian has brought on exec producer Rutkowsky as director of production and business management. Rutkowsky, who has a wealth of experience at agencies including Digitas, Wunderman Thompson and MRM/McCann, will take the lead on Barbarian’s original content creation. She will also oversee the newly created business affairs department and report to Barbarian’s managing director Courtney Berry.
Hayes joins Barbarian from R/GA as director of data insights and analytics. Hayes was co-founder of Agency DEI, the industry diversity database, and has led measurement and solutions for brands including Samsung, Disney, Verizon and Uber. Hayes reports to Barbarian CSO Eliza Yvette Esquivel.
Creative technology director Smith, previously of Deutsch New York, will report to Barbarian director of technology Sunny Nan.
The infusion of talent at Barbarian complements other recent hires including Matt Longstaff as creative director, Ben Kravitz as group account director, Ricardo De La Cruz as IT director and Brad McGovern as software developer. There have also been seven promotions from within during the past six months.
Full Lineup Set For AFI Fest; Official Selections Span 44 Countries, Include 9 Best International Feature Oscar Submissions
The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the full lineup for this year’s AFI Fest, taking place in Los Angeles from October 23-27. Rounding out the slate of already announced titles are such highlights as September 5 directed by Tim Fehlbaum, All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia, The Luckiest Man in America directed by Samir Oliveros (AFI Class of 2019), Zurawski v. Texas from executive producers Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence and directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and Oh, Canada directed by Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969). A total of 158 films are set to screen at the 38th edition of AFI Fest.
Of the official selections, 48% are directed by women and non-binary filmmakers and 26% are directed by BIPOC filmmakers.
Additional festival highlights include documentaries Architecton directed by Victor Kossakovsky; Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie directed by David Bushell; Devo directed by Chris Smith about the legendary new wave provocateurs; Gaucho Gaucho directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw; Group Therapy directed by Neil Berkeley with Emmy® winner Neil Patrick Harris and Tig Notaro; No Other Land directed by a Palestinian-Israeli team comprised of Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal; Pavements directed by Alex Ross Perry; and Separated directed by Errol Morris. Notable narrative titles include Black Dog (Gou Zen) directed by Guan Hu; Bonjour Tristesse directed by Durga Chew-Bose with Academy Award® nominee Chloë Sevigny; Caught By The Tides directed by Jia Zhangke; Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh with... Read More