New Chair of DMA Scotland calls for brands to be brave in the face of GDPR

Comments come as Standard Life’s Firas Khnaisser takes over
as new Chair of DMA Scotland and LIDA’s Kerrie Hull as Deputy Chair

Firas Khnaisser, Head of Decisioning at Standard Life, has been named as the new Chair of DMA Scotland, with Kerrie Hull, Senior account director at LIDA, named as Deputy Chair. Khnaisser succeeds Lynsey Fusco, Head of Marketing and communications at The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, who took up the role four years ago and helped guide DMA Scotland during a significant period of change and growth for the organisation.

The new leadership team aim to ensure that DMA Scotland continues to represent the vibrant, energetic and creative data-driven marketing industry in Scotland. Celebrating the fantastic work done in Scotland, empowering brands to create even more engaging campaigns, and inspiring the next generation of talent into the industry. The council will work with Scottish businesses and Universities to ensure they not only nurture local talent, but showcase the opportunity there is to remain at the cutting edge of creativity, data and technology within the Scottish marketing sector.

Commenting on how he wants to guide the industry and specifically businesses in Scotland forward through preparations for new legislation, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Khnaisser said: “We are here to help organisations in Scotland deliver value to their customers by making the best of the opportunity that GDPR has to offer, and by demonstrating how we can take customer engagement to bold new heights through nurturing and leveraging local talent, being super creative with content and realising the true value of data. This is not just about compliance, it's about how brave are brands willing to be and how far will they push the bar to deliver value back to their customers.”

Rachel Aldighieri, MD of the DMA, said: “I am pleased to welcome Firas and Kerrie as the leadership team for DMA Scotland. I look forward to working with them to lead our sector through this period of change and specifically help tackle the unique challenges facing Scottish businesses in the coming years. Scotland has a fast-growing, fantastically vibrant data and marketing industry that we look forward to working with through the DMA Scotland team.

Kerrie Hull said: “I’m honoured and thrilled to be taking on the role of Deputy Chair of DMA Scotland. I’m so delighted to be supporting Firas and the wonderful DMA Scotland team through a very exciting and dynamic period – 2018 has many challenges ahead and I can’t wait to get cracking. I’d also love to take the opportunity to thank Lynsey Fusco for her passion, commitment and fantastic leadership on the DMA Scotland over the past four years – it’s been fantastic and appreciated by all of us.”

Firas Khnaisser adds: “I am extremely fortunate to be taking on the role as chair at a time when the DMA is committed more than ever to supporting Scottish and UK businesses navigate through a legislative climate that could best be described as tricky. I’m excited to be taking on the role of Chair of DMA Scotland, building on the wonderful work of Lynsey Fusco and all the great things she's done over the past few years. I’m also thrilled to have Kerrie Hull as Deputy Chair and look forward to working together with all the energetic council members to help us take DMA Scotland to the next level in its evolution.”