Elizabeth Valleau joins as Executive Creative Director and Nick Swaby is promoted to Executive Experience Director
AKQA, the frontier agency, is delighted to announce two senior leadership appointments to its London studio, welcoming Elizabeth Valleau as Executive Creative Director and promoting Nick Swaby to Executive Experience Director. Together, they join the London leadership team, strengthening the studio’s ability to unite brand storytelling, experience design and emerging technologies to create meaningful value for clients.
Elizabeth Valleau joins AKQA from Accenture Song, where she served as Executive Creative Director. A creative leader and technologist, she brings more than two decades’ experience building global teams of designers, engineers and storytellers to create platforms, products and brand ecosystems used by billions of people. Throughout her career, she has led creative innovation for organisations including Meta and R/GA helping brands harness emerging technologies to create experiences that shape culture and drive meaningful impact.
Her work has been recognised with the industry’s highest honours, including Cannes Lions Grand Prix and Titanium awards, D&AD, One Show and ADC. As Executive Creative Director, Elizabeth will lead AKQA London’s Creative team, known for boundary-pushing projects in conceptual creativity, design, and technology.
Nick Swaby has been promoted to the newly created role of Executive Experience Director after more than 15 years at AKQA. Throughout his career, he has designed products and services that make a meaningful difference to customers’ lives while delivering measurable results for brands. He has built and led multidisciplinary teams that combine creativity, strategy and technology to solve complex challenges by creating products people love to use.
As Executive Experience Director, Nick will lead AKQA London’s Experience discipline, overseeing product strategists, UX designers and creative developers. He will partner closely with clients and multidisciplinary teams to create innovative products, services and experiences that harness emerging technologies and deliver lasting impact.
Jules Ward and Drew Eldridge, Managing Directors, AKQA London, said: “AKQA has always believed that the most impactful ideas emerge when creativity, design and technology work as one. Elizabeth and Nick bring exceptional leadership, complementary expertise and an ambitious vision for the future of our London studio. Together, they will strengthen our creative culture, help our teams thrive and continue delivering innovative experiences that create meaningful value for our clients.”
On her appointment, Elizabeth Valleau, Executive Creative Director, AKQA London, said:
“AKQA stands out as the sharp end of the creative innovation spear. It’s an institution that has constantly pushed the conversation of craft, culture, and technology forward. I’m thrilled to join the extraordinary London team and create work together that makes the future feel more optimistic, effective, and meaningful.”
On his new role, Nick Swaby, Executive Experience Director, AKQA London, added: “As AI transforms what’s possible for digital products, we have an opportunity to bring our disciplines together in new ways to create experiences that couldn’t exist before; more intelligent, intuitive and valuable for the people who use them. I’m looking forward to working with our teams and clients to define what that future looks like.”
These appointments reflect AKQA’s role as the frontier agency, bringing imagination and technology together to create what matters next: the ideas, products and experiences that drive new forms of value for clients.
