• by Larissa Faw , August 31, 2018

With former HR lead Julianna Akuamoah having recently departed for Hill Holliday, Allen & Gerritsen (A&G) is evolving its HR department with two new hires that have a lot of experience recruiting talent outside of Adland. The moves are designed to provide fresh perspectives for the agency’s talent recruitment efforts. 

Sandra Peralta is leaving Boston Medical Center HealthNet Plan to serve as senior vice president, talent to lead HR and hiring processes at the agency's Boston and Philadelphia offices.

Sugeily Peña is appointed director, talent & operations of the agency's Philadelphia office. Her background is centered more on the advertising and media world, having spent time at Edelman, A&E Networks, Ogilvy, NBC Universal, Digitas Health, and most recently McCann Torre Lazur.

Both new hires report to A&G CEO Andrew Graff. 

A&G has had a number of diversity initiatives in place for a while including BossLadies, which is designed to empower women to rise through the ranks. The agency also does workplace mentoring through Big Sister, where 10-year-old Little Sisters visit the agency monthly. The shop also has a panel series program where the agency hosts members of the community to address "difficult conversations" in the workplace, such as racism and criminal justice reform.  

“At Allen & Gerritsen we bravely challenge ourselves to be inclusive and want to provide our teams the opportunities to consider unique perspectives by engaging with community in new ways," said Graff.  “We all have a long way to go, but each senior level hire down to internship candidates must reflect the future of our industry and our world.”