I don’t know about you, but we’ve entered the Back-to-School season at my house, and I’ve recently received a ton of classroom schedules, expectations and goals from my kids’ teachers. It’s an energetic time and reminds me of the excitement, fear and opportunity that came with building an internal agency within Univar Solutions.

When my boss hired me in January 2021, he, too shared a calendar of events, financial expectations and growth goals for the year. I was challenged to develop an internal agency within the company as a flagship way of improving the efficiency, outputs and outcomes within our organization.

And like my kiddos, I, too felt a mix of excitement, fear and opportunity.

Building an internal agency

I’m so excited to share with the attendees of this year’s IABC Southern Region Conference how we leveraged The 3 P’s of Building an Internal Agency to help rapidly sophisticate our Marketing Communication team. By focusing on People, Process and Performance, you, too can navigate the myriad emotions that come with the challenge of building an internal agency – and maybe your “start of the school year” will be a smooth transition.

Growing up, I always looked forward to school field trips – and in a way, the IABC Southern Region Conference is kind of like a “field trip.”

I love seeing the excitement on everyone’s faces when I attend my kids’ field trips – and the same goes for every IABC event I’ve had the pleasure of attending. The diverse group of students coming together to talk, laugh and learn fills me with optimism and always leaves me better than when I arrived – and I can unequivocally say the same for the Southern Region Conference.

So if you haven’t yet – get your permission slip signed, figure out which bus (or plane!) you’re arriving in, and get ready to have some fun in Greenville, South Carolina!

And don’t worry about packing a lunch – you definitely won’t go hungry at an IABC event!

Brittney Garneau

Brittney Garneau is the global director of marketing communications at Univar Solutions, one of the world’s leading chemical and ingredient distributors and specialty solutions providers helping communities stay healthy, fed, clean and safe. As head of creative and commercial communication, Brittney leads award-winning marketing, branding, social media, advertising and public relations efforts focused on sustainability and innovation at the intersection of science and technology.

Brittney is a longtime member of IABC Houston and currently serves as its VP of Professional Development.