Tips from the best in the business – of business development:

How to create a winning agency culture

Co-Founder of The BD100 Jody Osman interviews last year’s The BD100 winner, Dean Rowland (Founder & CEO at A Rolo Company) and Rising Star winner, Myreete Stanforth (Senior Manager, Business Development at Ketchum) to discuss new business tips and how agencies can create a winning culture to drive new business success.

Our Speakers:

Jody Osman is Group Director of Growth at Propeller Group and Co-Founder of The BD100.

Jody has been helping agencies of all different shapes and sizes win new business for the last 20 years – including high profile wins with likes of Adidas, Coca-Cola, BT and John Lewis. Jody is now a co-owner and board director at Propeller Group, providing agencies with a joined up approach to business development, content marketing and PR. Jody co-founded The BD100 in 2017 to recognise the best in the business – of business development, and encourage greater collaboration across the business development community.

Myreete Stanforth oversees Global Markets growth and marketing for Ketchum, supporting a multi-million-dollar pipeline. Nearly a decade at Ketchum tenure, Myreete has brought in hundreds of new clients, operationalized the business development function, established global reporting, develops resources for lead development, and trains next gen business development professionals.

She was recently honored as ALF Insight Sales and Marketing’s BD100 Rising Star and her team was short-listed awards for Best New Business Team. She’s the 2021 Milestones in Mentoring Emerging Leader award winner through The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations, and was honoured as PRNEWS’ PR People & Rising Stars 2020 in the United States.

Prior to her focus on business development, Myreete wrote the media strategy and led IAT integration for National Safety Council’s 2018 Cannes Lion winning program “Prescribed to Death,” which garnered 2.5 billion impressions and distributed more than one million Warn Me labels to begin the end of the national opioid crisis. The work has won more than 77 industry awards. Myreete was selected to be a Ketchum delegate for the 2016 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for her work on this initiative.

Externally, Myreete co-created the Emerging Leaders group as well as co-founder of Plank Partners within The Plank Center, an organization lifting up international leadership in Public Relations. Within these roles, Myreete has supported the development of five resource guides, participated in virtual panel content and Plank programming, counseled on behalf of Gen Z and millennial voices, mentored 600+ students and recent graduates, and began to pave paths for the future professionals of our industry.

As Founder and CEO, Dean Rowland launched A Rolo Company in September 2023: a consultancy dedicated to crafting extraordinary career journeys through its purpose: Experience Unforgettable.

Dean has a decade of experience in advertising under his belt at top network agencies in both local and international roles, including OMD, Havas UK, Publicis.Poke and MullenLowe Group. He was most recently a director, shareholder and head of growth & culture ​at digital agency, Receptional.​ ​

Dean believes that when businesses invest in their people, the returns are boundless. Through innovative culture strategies, he unleashes the full potential of individuals and teams, fostering a deep sense of engagement, fulfillment, and genuine care.

This resulted in Receptional winning Best Transformation of Culture at the UK Company Culture Awards 2022, as well as other accolades for its contribution to culture and people.

Dean is the current BD100 Business Developer of the Year and has previously been recognised for his achievements by being named as Growth Leader of the Year and New Business Team of the Year in 2022, as well as being nominated for Culture Leader of the Year, and Rising Star at various awards, previously.

He regularly contributes to thought leadership within the industry and has spoken at events in London, New York, Amsterdam and Malta in the past year. ​