'Agency champion' Scott Knox quits MAA - and UK

Scott Knox, the man who has arguably done more for promotional marketing agencies – and the LGBT agency community – over the past 15 years than anyone else, is stepping down as managing director of the Marketing Agencies Association.
He is also leaving the UK, to take up the role of president and chief executive of the Institute of Communications Agencies in Canada.
Knox has been banging the drum for promotional marketing agencies since joining what was then the MCCA in 2001. He had previously worked at Major Players, where he was head of graduate recruitment.
During his time he has locked horns with the client community over pitch practices and payment terms, as well as quadrupled the MAA’s membership.
But it is perhaps his role in co-founding PrideAM, a leadership group set up to ensure that LGBT people are supported at a high level in the ad industry for which he will be best remembered.
Knox said: “To be able to continue my work with the agency sector in an amazing country like Canada is a dream come true for my family and me. I am agency side through and through and will never change in that.
“It has been an amazing 15 or so years, I have had the privilege of working and connecting with a breathtaking array of people in a sector I adore. With the MAA having the best board and team it has ever had I know that it will continue from strength to strength.”
In one recommendation On LinkedIn, WDMP chief executive Gavin Wheeler said: “Of all the trade bodies, [the MAA] does the most for agencies like us. Providing help, support and advice on areas such as HR, procurement, new Business and new techniques. Furthermore they run excellent training and development courses which help me get the most out of my staff. Under Scott’s leadership membership has grown significantly and member agencies are now better equipped to survive the current economic storm.”
The MAA now plans to review the trade body’s structure, with the aim of recruiting a successor for Knox in the coming months.