Trefor Thomas steps down at Lida for fresh challenge

Lida chief creative officer Trefor Thomas has decided to call it a day after just 18 months in the role and is stepping down to, in his own words, “take his creative path in a new direction”.
Thomas, the former RMG creative boss and the co-founder of Brand Advocate, joined the M&C Saatchi-owned agency in March 2016 from SapientNitro, succeeding Nicky Bullard as its first chief creative officer.
Bullard had left in February after 15 years at the M&C Saatchi agency to join Meteorite as chairman and chief creative officer.
Before RMG, “Tom” spent seven years at Saatchi & Saatchi in senior creative roles; first in Singapore and then in the London office.
Thomas will leave in the new year, although he does not have a job to go to yet. In the meantime he is handing over control of the creative department to two of his key recruits; executive creative director Tori Winn, who joined the agency from Precedent in August 2016, and creative director Pavel Fernandez, who was poached from SapientNitro earlier this year.
Thomas is quoted as saying: “My time at Lida has been exciting, I’ve worked with some great people producing some terrific work together, but now I’d like my creative path to go in a new direction. It makes sense to start the process of appointing my successor now so that Lida can go into 2018 with a renewed sense of purpose.”
Lida chief executive Victoria Fox paid tribute to the “great impact” Thomas had had on the agency and added: “We are sad to see him go, but we are also grateful for his honesty and Tom will help handover carefully to the right leadership team.”