Spark Foundry UK hires chief strategy officer

Spark Foundry UK has appointed Venya Wijegoonewardene as chief strategy officer.

Previously, Wijegoonewardene was senior vice-president, strategy and planning at Brainlabs.

In her new role, Wijegoonewardene will report to Spark Foundry’s chief executive Emil Bielski.

As chief strategy officer, she is set to take over certain responsibilities from Marcos Angelides, who most recently held the role of chief strategy and innovation officer until he was promoted to co-managing director in December 2023.

Wijegoonewardene’s responsibilities will include leading the agency’s strategy and bringing its “Accelerated Intelligence, Human Connections” proposition to clients.

Bielski described Wijegoonewardene as “one of the most talented strategists” he’d ever worked with and added: “She’s not only a brilliant storyteller but also has a deep knowledge of digital from her time as a leading specialist in this area. She is incredibly inclusive and collaborative in her approach, which aligns perfectly with Spark’s ethos.”

Having joined indie shop Brainlabs in January 2021, Wijegoonewardene was previously strategy partner at Carat UK. Her new role marks a return to Publicis Media, having worked at Zenith, formerly ZenithOptimedia, between 2010-15 as a planning manager.

Wijegoonewardene said: “Spark is an agency that is clearly on the rise with a great inclusive culture that creates fantastic work, so I can’t wait to join Emil and the rest of the talented team and be a part of its next chapter.”