Daniel Farey-Jones
Apr 10, 2024

Iris hires global chief people officer

Benita Meswania joins from We Are Social owner Plus Company.

Benita Meswania: several years experience at Accenture and Droga5
Benita Meswania: several years experience at Accenture and Droga5

Iris has hired Benita Meswania as global chief people officer, tasking her with creating a new global value proposition for its talent.

Meswania will develop the integrated agency's focus on succession, career development, learning, affinity and engagement.

She will also lead a team of over 20 HR professionals from the UK and will report to Iris chair Ian Millner.

Her experience includes 18 years at Accenture, where she rose to become global head of HR for Droga5 in 2019. At that time, she was based in New York. She left as global chief people officer in 2022 to join Plus Company, the 3,000-strong holding company behind We Are Social and Cossette.

Meswania has been global chief people officer at Plus Company for 18 months.

Iris described her hiring as “part of a strategic re-globalisation of the business, putting senior talent at the centre to drive the business forward in key growth areas”.

Millner said: "As Iris looks to continue to stay a step ahead of a marketplace that is under incredible pressure, it’s great to have a senior global executive in the talent space join us as we navigate the most exciting and challenging chapter of our industry so far.

"Benita will help us move faster, be more dynamic and confident, and tap into the people, skills, and culture across our global network."

Iris employs over 1,000 people in 14 offices worldwide. Its last HR chief was Harriet Shurville, chief people officer between January 2020 and June 2023, when she left to join Avalere Health.

Meswania said: “I’m hugely excited to lead the people offering at Iris. Leveraging my experience developing transformational talent strategies for creative businesses, I’ll be working to support the network’s growth ambitions while breaking the mould in how we elevate the people agenda.”

 

Source:
Campaign UK

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