UK-based international healthcare communications agency, Makara Health, has announced the promotion of Katie Bright and Helen Laurence into Joint Managing Director (JMD) roles as Louise Sharp becomes Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Following the bolstering of the senior team in recent years and the continued success of the agency, the new roles have been created to share and manage ongoing growth across its five core functional offerings of medical education, learning and development, brand and promotion, PR, and patient education. The change will also create additional space for Louise to support the business strategically, drive new business and become more active within the broader medical communications industry.
Katie will step up from her role as Deputy Managing Director and will continue to actively support and develop business infrastructure, as well as overseeing the L&D and brand functions, and the in-house creative and digital teams. Helen, who was previously Executive Director – PR and Medical Education, will continue to oversee those functions, as well as shaping marketing strategy, and working with the Executive Director of Scientific Strategy to support the agency’s team of experienced scientific writers.
Both will continue to work closely with the leadership and management teams to ensure Makara maintains its core values of integrity, intelligence and kindness.
Katie and Helen have both worked at Makara since the early days and know the business inside out. They bring considerable and diverse experience with them from their careers prior to Makara and have different but complementary skills sets. I am thrilled to see them step into this joint role and look forward to continuing to build and grow the agency together for the benefit of our clients. I also look forward to playing a more active role in the wider medical communications industry in my new position.
Louise Sharp
It’s a huge privilege to take on the role of Joint Managing Director at Makara, working with such a truly talented group of individuals. I’m also thrilled to be taking on the role in partnership with Helen, who has been an inspiring and valued colleague and friend ever since we both joined the agency around 7 years ago.
Katie Bright
As long-term members of the team, Katie and I are lucky to have been part of the Makara journey and are united in our determination to continue to offer our clients the excellent service they have come to expect, while maintaining a flexible and inspiring culture for our people. We are delighted to have recently received a Best Companies accreditation as an Outstanding Place to Work and that’s an accolade we intend to live up to!
Helen Laurence
