Karen Martin

Karen Martin is lauded as one of the most energetic and progressive industry leaders of her generation.

She took up the CEO role at BBH London in 2020, just four years after joining. Starting as Managing Partner, she quickly rose up the ranks as Deputy MD, then Managing Director, overseeing the running of 60 Kingly Street and leading two of BBH’s biggest clients: Tesco and Barclays.

In her first year as CEO, Karen successfully led the agency through lockdown and played a key role in ensuring clients effectively pivoted with their pandemic-era strategies and messaging.

Since then, she has continued to champion the mental health, wellbeing, growth and professional development of the team at BBH, leading to it being named on the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies To Work For list in 2020.

Under her leadership, BBH has redoubled its commitment to achieving ambitious diversity, equality and inclusion goals. At the same time, Karen has been driving efforts to address the gender pay gap, assembling mentoring groups at BBH to ensure women are supported and promoted. 3. She is a member of WACL and part of their mentoring scheme, and in 2023 was named a founding member of private network Chief, sitting amongst some of the most powerful women in leadership.

Karen’s success at BBH is a continuation of her long track record of helping grow her clients’ businesses. She previously spent 14 years in the Australian ad industry, latterly as Managing Director of Host Sydney, where she ran the agency’s largest account, Bankwest, and won and ran Pizza Hut and Lion Beverages. Prior to Host, Karen worked at BMF (B&T’s Australian Agency of the Decade) as a key member of its Account Management team. In her time there, she developed some of the most awarded work in the category.

Her award-winning ways have continued at BBH, which under her leadership has scored accolades including the Marketing Week Masters Agency of the Year and IPA Effectiveness Company of the Year in 2020. In 2021, Karen herself was named by Head of Agency of the year by Campaign magazine. She is part of the IPA Council and in 2023 is chairing their Effectiveness Leadership Group.