VERSA adds to growing Sydney office; Gavin McDonough joins as general manager

(Pictured L-R: Guy Munro, Kath Blackham, Gavin McDonough, Dan Taylor, Elizabeth Croger)

Voice experience (VX) and digital design agency VERSA has announced a raft of senior appointments to newly created roles. These key hires further strengthen VERSA’s recently-launched Sydney office as the fast growing business expands its on the ground presence in the key market.

Joining recently relocated global business director, Guy Munro, is newly appointed Sydney general manager, Gavin McDonough and national head of analytics, data and insights, Dan Taylor.

Rounding out the Sydney team is Elizabeth Croger, who has been promoted to the national role of client engagement director and will work along-side Munro to drive new business in Sydney and across the group.

McDonough is a seasoned, multi-award winning agency lead who has worked with the likes of Netflix, Airbnb, Microsoft and Coca-Cola in Australia, South-East Asia and the USA.

Says McDonough: “VERSA’s pioneering spirit of innovation aligns with my own passion and experience making this an opportunity impossible to pass up.”

Says Kath Blackham, CEO, VERSA: “Having pioneered the VX space in Australia and launching our offering well before Amazon introduced Alexa to the country, we have taken our clients on a significant journey in Voice and the capabilities it offers. The importance of data in the digital space has been talked about for years, and as VX evolves, we are increasingly seeing the importance of data insights and analytics in creating targeted and effective VX experiences for our clients. It’s our intention to own that VX data space.”

With experience working across brands such as Toyota, Nickelodeon, British Airways and Ikea, Dan Taylor is VERSA’s most senior data hire to date.

Says Taylor: “Compared to traditional digital channels voice is not as mature in terms of using data to improve the customer experience – to be the ones in the market that change that is a hugely exciting prospect.”

Adds Blackham: “These are exciting times for VERSA, coming on the back of exceptional year on year revenue growth of 46%. The Sydney market is a key component of our national growth strategy for voice and enterprise digital. We are laser-focused on growing our business in the important Sydney market and these strategic appointments of people with such exceptional talent will drive our ambitious business to new heights.”