Gravity Road Appoints Katie Lee as Managing Director & Partner

Gravity Road has appointed the current Managing Director of Leo Burnett, Katie Lee, as its first Managing Director. She will also join the agency’s management team as a board member. 

The creation of this new senior role at Gravity Road reflects the agency’s rapid growth over the three years since it was founded, and its future ambitions.  Following new business and award wins this year, the agency has doubled revenues and now has a team of 50 people.

Katie’s primary role will be to lead the agency’s growth of new creative business as content-led thinking becomes a more central part of the advertising industry.

Lee joins following seven years at Leo Burnett where she also held the role of Group Marketing Director, leading the agency to win, among others, The Co-operative and NSPCC. Prior to that she held senior roles at BBH and Saatchi & Saatchi. She is co-chair of the IPA New Business and Marketing Group.

Alongside Katie Lee, Gravity Road has also appointed Pete Conolly, former Creative Director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco. Pete will lead creative development for clients and enhance the agency’s international offering.

During his tenure with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Pete conceived HP's iconic and multi-layered "The Computer Is Personal Again" campaign, an Ad Age "Campaign of The Year," amongst numerous other awards. Pete also founded UCLA's Creative Technology Lab, teaching media arts and physical computing to graduate students at the School of Design and Media Arts.

Mark Eaves: “The Gravity Road model is different and we are not trying to recreate a traditional agency.  But because of our backgrounds, we do recognise the best bits of big agencies. For us Katie and Pete are the embodiment of that.”

Mark Boyd: “Finding partners to join and grow our culture has been key for our next stage of growth. We’re very excited Katie and Pete decided to join the family.”

Katie said: “This industry is changing beyond recognition and the task ahead for both agencies and clients is an incredibly complex one. Gravity Road is an entirely new breed of agency built for the future. I am really excited about being a part of their next stage of growth.”

Pete said: "Gravity Road is at the forefront of creative content and I’m looking forward to joining the team and pushing this even further."