Fiftyfive5 Expands Local And Global Talent With 45 New Hires

Insight-led consulting business Fiftyfive5 reports continued growth with 45 new hires between June 2020 and June 2021 across all geographies and levels, bringing the agency headcount to 147.

“The changes in consumer and community behaviour through COVID has seen significant investment from clients looking to better understand this change and the opportunities and risks it presents. Investment in research and insight continues to grow and we have positioned for that growth by scaling up and strengthening our team,” said Mark Sundquist, CEO.

There has been significant growth geographically, with a key focus on growing the Melbourne office to better support and deliver to Melbourne-based clients.

Melbourne has doubled in the last 12 months, lead by Jenny Witham and with 12 new hires. The team of 18 will be moving to a new office space in July to accommodate further growth.

The New Zealand office has grown 50%, increasing the team by three this year. They recently took home the judges’ special commendation award at this year’s Research Association New Zealand (RANZ) research awards.

Joining Chris Richardson and the Singapore team are Zul Zulkarnain, Enzo Lai, and Kenneth Chen, bringing the team – who lead the management of global performance measurement programs – to 5.

Across all the offices, there has been significant investment in the next generation of talent with 9 new hires through the graduate program and 2 interns, who are apart of the Melbourne office’s new internship program. The program is an example of strengthening direct relationships with several of Australia’s leading universities.

The Social and Community team has doubled in size under the leadership of partner Mathew Densten, with a team of 14 across Sydney, Canberra, and Melbourne. The traction the team has achieved in a relatively short time span is significant, including large programs of work to drive COVID-19 vaccination, uptake of digital health, service improvement in aged care, mental health, tourism, and job creation.

“Our team has been entrusted to work on some of the most critical social challenges facing the nation today. It has been a real privilege partnering with our clients and bringing the voice of the community to these challenges,” said Densten.

“We are excited to see the social impact of the work we are doing today and are looking forward to what the future holds for the Social and Community team.”

There has also been significant investment in data analytics capability with the hire of Damian Frankcom and Vanessa Hargraves, who are joining Director of Advanced Analytics Todd Eldridge and Tom Wakefield.

Frankcom brings deep knowledge of data modelling and analytics and extensive experience in Tableau, while Hargraves specialises in data analytics and data visualisation.

Director Ben Vernon (middle) has joined the growing CX team to build and enhance our capability in all aspects of customer experience. He has a strong background in Financial Services and Telecommunications and most recently led Experience Design and the Innovation Lab at Commonwealth Bank.

To support team growth, onboarding, training and development, and career progression, Lisa Gray (right) has been appointed as head of People & Culture.

According to Gray, “The strength of our teams and people, our commitment to learning and development, clear career progression pathways and investment in overall employee experience are the foundations that support the growth of Fiftyfive5.”