Our People

Shane Russell is Chief Executive Officer of Havas Red Australia, one of the country’s most awarded PR, Social and Experiential agencies.

In a 20-year career that has spanned both Australia and the United States, Shane has built a reputation for leading high-growth teams and brands that aren’t afraid of taking creative risks.

For a decade prior to joining Red in April 2023, Shane served as Executive Vice President at New York-based 5W Public Relations, helping it become one of the largest independent firms in America. As an agency leader Shane was instrumental in driving the company’s record multi-year expansion, helping win and retain household-name brands and disruptive startups, manage group operations, and provide senior counsel and strategic direction to clients across a diversity of consumer and B2B verticals.

Prior to 5W, Shane was head of global PR at Shutterstock, where he managed external agency relationships and helped craft the company’s product and international communications program.

At Red, Shane is focused on elevating the agency’s merged media offerings and leveraging his deep operational expertise to support clients as they navigate various growth stages, brand and campaign launches, corporate and financial milestones, issues and more.

Shane launched his career in his homeland of Australia in 2004, representing some of the country’s largest real estate groups and operating his own generalist PR consultancy before relocating to New York in 2012. Shane holds a Bachelor of Journalism and Communication from James Cook University in Queensland, Australia.

Outside of work, Shane dedicates much of his waking and sleeping hours to his 2 young daughters and travel.

Kate is the Managing Partner of Havas Blvd, a Brand Experience agency which is made up of over 22 communications and production specialists, including Photographers, Designers, Video Producers, Event Managers, Digital services as well as traditional PR account service and speciality writers. She is additionally tasked with the role of Chief Client Officer at Havas Red.

With over 15 years’ experience in the industry, starting in Experiential Marketing before moving to PR and Events, Kate joined Red Agency in early 2017 when her previous agency merged with Red.

Kate is skilled in management, team leadership, financial management, business development, strategic planning and risk mitigation. Kate is results-driven, commercially astute and champions the agency’s diverse culture

Kate has a history in building and leading communications, PR, and marketing teams and organisations.  Combining creativity, storytelling and technology to bring campaigns to life and create meaningful experiences for consumers.

Kate is also a board director of the Australian institute of Motor Sport Safety (AIMSS), with a specific brief to provide PR and communications expertise.  AIMSS is a not-for-profit organisation, established by Motorsport Australia as the peak body for motor sport safety and related research. It is directly linked to a global initiative to reduce road trauma.

Kate has created campaigns for leading brands including, Toyota, Lexus, Veritas, Symantec, Hino and the FCAI.

Haylie Marchant is an award-winning senior PR professional and business leader with a proven track record of building and running successful PR agencies both in Australia and abroad.

A deep strategic thinker, she is passionate about doing ‘work that works’ and using PR to drive genuine brand impact.

With more than 15 years’ experience, she joined Havas Red and the agency’s national leadership in May 2021 and is overseeing the growth of the team and business in the Brisbane market.

During her career she has worked with some of Australia’s (and the globe’s) leading brands including Google, YouTube, eBay, Westfield, Subway, Capilano, and Sanofi Consumer Healthcare to name a few. She has also provided strategic counsel and issues management advice to major brands in the retail, property, FMCG, and aged care sectors among others.

Haylie is also the founder of The PR Toolkit, an online educational platform and DIY toolkit empowering small businesses to do their own PR.

Passionate about education and talent development, she has also taught public relations at the Queensland University of Technology and participated in panels and guest lecture opportunities.

A strategic communication leader with over 20 years in the public relations industry, Myrna has worked extensively across the Global, APAC and Australian communications landscape. She has held multiple and diverse leadership roles in the communications industry, bringing valuable perspective and insight to multi-stakeholder organisations, helping them navigate their voice and reputation in increasingly complex environments.

She is recognised for leading high performing agency and in house teams in the fast-changing sphere of technology innovation and corporate comms.

Underpinned by a focus on driving business impact, Myrna covers a span of strategic communications expertise across the innovation, corporate, health, auto and consumer sectors, providing leadership counsel, communications strategy nd planning, brand storytelling, crisis and issues management, narrative, and messaging programs as well as employee comms. She is also passionate about bringing heart to the vital area of diversity and inclusion comms.

Well versed in the discipline of creating pathways for brands to engage meaningfully with their audience, her communications experience includes some of the world’s leading innovation brands; Philips Global, Apple, Telstra, Optus, TomTom, Fujitsu, Microsoft, Canon, LG, Bose, Motorola, Dimension Data amongst many others.

Stuart has extensive experience across sectors and continents including, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK where he has spent the last 16 years of his career fine tuning his strategic skills in helping brands develop their content, digital and social offering to drive growth and become better storytellers.

With a career that spans working both client and agency side across travel, education, FMCG, tech, transport, health and QSR on brands such as Celebrity Cruises, Etihad, Emirates, Booking.com, McDonald’s, Shell and NIVEA.

With over 40 years in the industry, Patrick has extensive experience in public relations, marketing and journalism.

A media relations specialist and an accomplished writer, he develops, integrates and implements a broad range of corporate communication strategies designed to support the growth of client brand reputation and market position.

His mobility roles have included general manager of PR for Hyundai, Chrysler, Jeep, Audi, and senior agency responsibilities for Toyota Motor Corporation.

For many years, Patrick reported federal and state politics and was central to the delivery of projects for prominent entities such as Visy Industries, Colliers Jardine, Business SA and the United Nations Environment Program.

His research, analytic and writing skills have contributed to the attainment of post-graduate qualifications in management and in teaching English to speakers of other languages.

Tom joined Havas Red in 2019, after moving across the world (and the network) from his role at Havas London. As Creative Lead, he’s responsible for the creative team, and the agency’s overall creative output. He is the engine that helps drive some of Red’s most innovative campaigns, experiences, and content. What excites him most, are ideas that get people talking and sharing by offering a fair exchange for their time and attention.

Tom quickly gained a breadth of agency experience working across disciplines in digital, social, advertising, and PR. He’s developed campaigns (and won awards) for global clients like Molson Coors, Nike, Credit Suisse, and Reckitt. At Havas Red, he’s worked across all major clients, including Toyota, Big W, Novartis, and NIVEA.

Tom’s also passionate about opening the industry to newcomers, having mentored ferocious young talent through a range of programmes including AWARD School, D&AD New Blood, D&AD Shift, School of Communication Arts, and Creative Mentor Network.