• by Fern Siegel , Yesterday

Vanessa Lai has joined R/GA in a new role: group creative director, intelligent systems. Her charge is to lead clients and creative projects and enhance AI adoption.

In addition, she teams with Addition, an AI system design and development studio, R/GA acquired earlier this year. 

Lai reports to Tiffany Rolfe, chair-global CCO.

Prior to joining R/GA, Lai was group innovation director at Monks, shaping the agency's AI workflows. Before that, she served in various roles at Monks, including creative director. Earlier, she was a designer at Pixlee and Kiwi Co.

“Vanessa brings the rare blend of creativity, technical fluency and systems thinking that’s needed today,” said Rolfe. “The future of creativity is about designing intelligent systems for brands, which means we’ll go from just making things to making things that make things. She brings the kind of leadership that accelerates that shift.”

R/GA's client work has included Android, Verizon and the BBC.

“R/GA has always pushed the boundaries of creativity and technology, and I’m so excited to help shape how we build what comes next and unlock the full potential of this emerging tech for our clients,” said Lai.