VMLY&R has promoted Myron King to chief integration officer, a role in which he will lead organizational design and cultural integration strategy for North American clients. He joins VMLY&R’s executive leadership team and will report to global chief experience officer Jeff Geheb.
King will oversee the strategic integration of core agency capabilities for new and existing clients across North America. This includes focusing on Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) corporate integration; consulting on marketplace diversity; and developing inclusive policies, practices, and protocols for business evolution.
In addition, the chief integration officer serves as a strategic partner for the agency’s new cross-departmental Transformation Initiative. VMLY&R’s Transformation Initiative aims to implement integration efforts that combat systemic racism across all areas of the business, both client-facing and internal. The initiative will also support ongoing diversity, equity and inclusion strategies that drive measurable progress and substantive and lasting change for BIPOC employees and VMLY&R employees at large.
King’s appointment comes at the apex of a broad industry awakening on the convergence of technological advancements and the urgency of racial equity in the workplace and beyond.
“Our agency is dedicated to improving what it means to be a diverse, inclusive, and valuable partner today, and 100 years from now,” Geheb said. “To that end, we need leaders who bring expertise and perspective in how we harness creativity, technology, and culture. Myron is the very embodiment of forward-thinking leadership, and his broad experience will be a winning combination to better serve our clients and our agency’s ambitions.”
King is a veteran of the VMLY&R network, having spent nearly 15 years with the agency. He served most recently as managing director of VMLY&R’s advisory practice, where he led digital transformation efforts. Since joining the agency in 2006, King has played a vital role in helping clients navigate disruption by crafting connected and memorable brand and customer experiences for clients like Bayer, Coca-Cola, ConocoPhillips, Dell, Electrolux, Ford Motor Company, Honeywell, Kellogg, SAP, Sherwin-Williams, and Sprint.
“VMLY&R is like family to me,” King said. “Over the years I’ve watched us grow from 400 employees to over 7,000. We’ve consistently adapted and evolved to deliver some of the top creative, digital, and consumer-centric marketing solutions in the world. In the process, we’ve sustained a culture of togetherness and excellence. I’m excited to amplify our organizational design and cultural integration efforts with clients to help make VMLY&R the most diverse, inclusive, and creative agency in the world.”
King is highly active in the development of VMLY&R’s culture and employee experience. He is a founding member of the VMLY&R Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee; a Mentor Captain; and an executive sponsor for BIPOC employee resource groups. He earned dual bachelor’s degrees in political science and communication studies from the University of Missouri before completing a master’s degree in public policy analysis from the University of Rochester.
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More