Finn Partners has hired Robin Pomeranz Cronin as creative director and Ivan Ruiz as a partner, both newly created roles in the firm’s global health practice.

Cronin reports to managing partner Matt Bostrom, overseeing three designers. Ruiz reports to senior partner of global digital health Ritesh Patel, overseeing digital work across the agency, specifically within healthcare.

The executive appointments, effective in November 2022, signal Finn Partners’ integrated marketing strength and expertise in delivering innovative health-focused campaigns that span strategy, social, digital marketing and targeted advertising and communications, the agency said in a statement.

“What really got me excited about joining Finn was the fact that they were doing something that the other agencies weren’t doing, which is really tapping into the idea that digital and health are no longer two different things,” Ruiz said. “The digitization of healthcare from a consumer perspective and from a healthcare provider perspective is something that has evolved at the speed of light since COVID, specifically.” 

Cronin brings more than 20 years of health public relations and integrated marketing experience to the role. Her background in marketing draws people from the integrated marketing team at Finn with different skill sets to “round out the pitches,” branching integrated marketing with the healthcare team. 

“I came here because I wanted to work for a company that aligned with my own personal values more and didn’t feel like creativity was a commodity,” Cronin said. “I feel that at Finn, creative is seen within the individual and when you get together as a group and you’re brainstorming this magic happens, and it’s allowed to happen very organically.”

Ruiz’s background spans digital strategy, graphic/web design and web development. 

From a practice perspective, Ruiz said the global health team is looking to elevate how it communicates better with healthcare professionals.

Prior to joining Finn Partners, Cronin served as head of creative at Syneos Health (previously INC Research/inVentiv Health). She also worked as VP of creative studio at Ogilvy PR.

Cronin’s work spans dozens of disease awareness campaigns, internal communications campaigns and corporate rebrands, for clients including Novartis, Pfizer, GSK and Sanofi. 

Ruiz most recently served as SVP of the innovation studio at Goodfuse Communications where he managed digital campaign development and social and digital marketing programs for pharmaceutical, biotech and pharma-adjacent companies globally. Prior to that, he served as director of integrated marketing at Burson-Marstellar (now BCW) and digital engagement strategist at Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide.

“[Finn is] focusing on the future and how communications and marketing can work together to solve for the needs that the patient communities are having and for the problems that the ACPs (advance care planning services) are having,” Ruiz said. “I love the idea of really redefining the space. It’s helping connect dots between patients and providers and healthcare professionals and the role that comms and marketing play in that now.”

Finn Partners acquired international health communications firm Hyderus last month, adding to the firm’s global health practice in the EMEA region. 

The agency posted a 49% increase in revenue globally to $162.2 million, including $135.7 million in the U.S., in 2021, according to PRWeek’s Agency Business Report 2022.

This article originally appeared on PRWeek US.

To read a March 2024 article about Finn Partners unveiling Global Health Impact Group to tackle challenges worldwide, click here.