CHICAGO – (November 3, 2025) Golin, an Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) agency, is strengthening its creative and strategic planning capabilities across North America with three senior leadership hires designed to elevate client work and drive growth. The agency has added Executive Creative Director Meg Farquhar in Chicago, and Executive Vice Presidents of Strategy Tom Howells (Western Region) and Martin Coomber (New York), all of whom started late this summer.
This leadership expansion underscores Golin’s commitment to delivering best-in-industry creative and strategic capabilities nationwide.
“These three leaders have track records we couldn’t ignore—award-winning creative, strategic work for global brands, and a history of building teams that deliver,” said Dawn Langeland, Co-President of Golin North America. “They chose Golin because we’re serious about doing exceptional work, and I’m confident they’ll push our teams to new heights.”
As ECD, Farquhar leads a 20-person creative team in Chicago working with clients including Ferrara, Grubhub, McDonald’s, Verizon, and Walmart. Her experience includes roles as Lead Creative for Schaff, ECD for DDB, and Chief Creative Officer for Ogilvy Canada where she doubled the agency’s size and elevated Ogilvy Toronto from #11 to #3 on the Creative Power List in one year. Farquhar has won 14 Cannes Lions, including three gold.
“Chicago has serious creative firepower and clients willing to do bold work—that combination is rare,” said Farquhar. “What sealed it was the culture: leadership that actually backs great ideas and a team that pushes each other. My job is to help them create work that wins awards and moves business.”
Howells joins as Golin’s first strategy leader in the Western Region after a decade at United Entertainment Group and Edelman. He’ll work with clients including Actian, Ferrero, Sanrio, and recent additions Arm, Ltd. and Nissin. His recent work includes Samsung’s Paris Olympics 2024 sponsorship (Open Always Wins), which won Webby and Clio awards, and a BMW campaign that landed #1 on Ad Age’s Top 5 Creative Campaigns list.
“The Western Region is on fire right now—new clients, ambitious work, and a team hungry to make an impact,” said Howells. “I’m joining at exactly the right moment to help scale what’s working and push our creative ambition even further.”
Coomber brings over 15 years of strategic advertising experience to Golin’s New York office. Previously, Coomber was Head of Strategy at VCCP where he tripled the size of their New York team under his leadership, resulting in a Clio Award win and being named one of Campaign Magazine’s top 2024 Strategy Teams of the Year. His role within Golin will further cement the agency’s stronghold in the east by organically growing current client accounts and emphasizing new business and creative outputs.
“New York has been on a tear—growing accounts, adding talent, and executing some of the stronger work in the Golin network,” said Coomber. “My job is to keep that momentum going by pushing our strategic thinking and winning new business that matches the caliber of clients like Ferrero, Pepsi, and Verizon.”
The three hires are part of a broader investment that has doubled Golin’s strategic planning and creative bench across North America over the past two years—positioning the agency to deliver higher-caliber work at greater scale.