Greg Lewis
EVP, Managing Partner
greyhealth group summit
Leading a New Agency Acquisition
Greg Lewis was on a career tear. He became one of the first Brand Chemists for WPP, managing marketing efforts for Simponi with Team Chemistry (built from talent across multiple WPP agencies, pioneering the current WPP Health & Wellness vision for network horizontality). Greg followed this by becoming a leadership partner at Sentrix, a WPP creative boutique agency where he helped achieve revenue growth of 50% in only 18 months. But when he chose to join the agency that became ghg summit in November 2014, Greg knew he was taking on a different kind of challenge.
The agency was in the final phase of being fully acquired by the ghg network, and Greg was an outsider to staff who had worked together for many years under private ownership. He knew that he had to win people over and maximize the positives while fixing the negatives to transition ghg summit from a smart project shop into an agency-of-record powerhouse. He was literally tasked with changing the agency name, client base, and culture, while driving better network connectivity within ghg and WPP. Greg could not simply apply the ghg network model—he had to create something unique for ghg summit.
Greg started by infusing new talent and elevating existing talent so that ghg summit could offer clients customized, right-sized teams for their businesses. He also built out unique disciplines within the office to augment the agency’s client offering. And he created agency subcommittees responsible for setting and improving the agency’s culture, process, and business practices. Additionally, at a time when many agencies are fiercely defending their individual territory and P&L, Greg always does what is best for the brand. He orchestrates the ghg/WPP network and outside-of-network partners based on each brand’s need, which rather than erode agency revenue, has helped ghg summit grow with additional brand success.
Under Greg’s leadership, the agency’s revenue has grown by nearly 60% within 24 months. More importantly, Greg found a way to change ghg summit for the better while helping the agency find the perfect balance between running a business and fostering a family atmosphere.
