McCann Worldgroup Announces Promotion of Sufia Parkar

McCann Worldgroup has named Sufia Parkar to the new role of European and UK regional director, diversity and engagement. This is a promotion for Sufia from McCann Central where she was head of talent.

Sufia will focus on the development and implementation of high impact country-specific D&E plans, programmes, partnerships and initiatives that foster a culture where talent from all social, cultural, gender, age, religious, political and economic backgrounds experience a sense of connection, belonging and purpose.

Pablo Walker, president, Europe, McCann Worldgroup said: “Achieving workplace equality isn’t an HR performance goal but rather something that is an inherent part of our business strategy. This is core to our culture and in Sufia we have found the right person to enable us to create programs that drive a diverse talent base which reflects today's multicultural world and has a direct impact on the work we deliver to clients.”

“At McCann Worldgroup we all benefit from the effectiveness of ‘when we come together’ so it is a natural extension of our culture that we would want to encourage and embrace diversity and inclusion in all aspects of our business. We are absolutely delighted to appoint Sufia to this role and I can think of nobody better suited to lead our efforts to make conscious inclusion a daily workplace reality,” said Mark Lund, UK CEO, McCann Worldgroup.

Commenting on this appointment, Singleton Beato, chief diversity and engagement officer, McCann Worldgroup, said: “Our global D&E strategy is foundational to achieving our vision to become the #1 creatively-driven global marketing company. And in our position as a globally integrated community that influences culture, I’m pleased to see our leaders demonstrate their commitment to our vision to create an environment that fosters inclusion across our network. Sufia’s mix of experience from both New Business and HR will help us to advance the MW D&E strategy across this key region.”

Prior to this, Sufia worked for over ten years in business development. During this time she identified a gap in the industry and launched McCann Reach, a division specifically focussed on helping brands target their ethnically diverse consumers by understanding, engaging and connecting with them with culture based marketing messaging. In her new position, Sufia will support McCann Worldgroup’s continuing mission to drive diversity initiatives around Europe for the Agency, its employees and its clients.