Citing a "record year of growth," Work & Co is naming five new associate partners, elevating four from within the agency and poaching Huge Chief Design Officer Derek Fridman as the fifth.

“Our structure is unique in the industry and designed to make sure we have enough leadership to be directly involved in every client project,” Co-Founder and Design Partner Felipe Memoria said in the statement. “A high ratio of partners—now 19 globally—helps with mentorship, enables us to remain hands-on partners to our clients, and to stay connected across teams. It’s the only way to guarantee quality as we expand the company.” 

The new partners from within the agency are Dever Thomas, Steve Kuhn, Rupal Parekh and Daniele Codega. 

Thomas, a strategic and design lead for the agency since just after its 2013 founding, now becomes associate partner, design. She's worked on clients Apple, Ikea, Virgin America, Aesop and Céline, among others, and was behind the 2018 Cannes Lions Grand Prix-winning "Today at Apple" initiative that brought educated experiences to the tech giant's stores.

Kuhn, a group director of product management who joined Work & Co in 2015, becomes associate partner, product. Before joining the agency, he was a product design leader for Softcard, a now-defunct mobile payments platform and joint venture of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. At Softcard, Kuhn actually was a client of Work & Co.

Parekh, who has been working on content strategy and communications as a director at Work & Co since 2017, becomes associate partner, brand. An Ad Age alum turned consultant (she was an editor at this publication from 2007 to 2013), Parekh collaborates with Work & Co's clients like Planned Parenthood, Aldo, Gatorade and others on rollout strategies.

Codega, a design director for the agency since 2016, takes on associate partner, design. His work spans Work & Co clients including Apple, Vimeo and American Express, among others.

Fridman will become an associate partner, design, beginning sometime in mid September. His last day at the Interpublic Group of Cos.' Brooklyn-based digital agency is Friday.

Huge did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fridman told Ad Age in the email that he has "admired" Work & Co—a privately owned digital agency based in Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood that landed on Ad Age's 2019 A-List—and the products and experiences it has produced "for some time." He added, "I also firmly believe in their commitment to having leaders who do more than just manage. That hands-on approach matches my personal values as a designer."

"To have one of these individuals would be a win for any company," said Memoria. "To have them all is rare."

Work & Co, which said in a statement that it recently increased its team to 309 people across the U.S., Brazil and Europe, has picked up several new clients in the last 12 months including Ikea, H&R Block, Italian luxury brand Bottega Veneta and Brazilian media giant Globo.