Bhavana Smith has been appointed as the first Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Horizon Media, where she will “lead the agency’s operational transformation as it evolves from a media agency to a growth partner.”
She will be based at the agency’s head office in New York, and her work will impact the entire network, including Horizon Media Canada.
The appointment of Bhavana, an industry veteran with experience at Accenture, Publicis Groupe, and Mediacom, signals a broader strategic shift in how the agency defines, measures, and delivers value, emphasizing performance, transparency, and client-aligned outcomes.
“The traditional agency model was built for agency revenue, not client outcomes,” said Bob Lord, president of Horizon Media Holdings and CEO, Horizon Global. “That distinction is no longer sustainable. While many are applying new technologies to optimize legacy systems, we are taking a fundamentally different approach. We are replacing them, rebuilding our operating model from first principles, and aligning incentives to business performance. Bhavana brings a rare ability to build bridges across the agency and industry, and alongside this leadership cohort, ensures we move with speed and conviction.”
Horizon is implementing a performance-driven operating model powered by AI, founded on radical transparency, an open partner ecosystem, and performance-based compensation directly tied to client outcomes. By moving beyond traditional full-time-equivalent billing and more closely aligning with CMOs’ priorities, Horizon Media Holdings aims to deliver greater agility, stronger collaboration, and accelerated business growth.
Horizon is also restructuring its go-to-market framework to prioritize measurable business impact—such as revenue growth, market share expansion, and customer acquisition—more directly aligning agency and client success.
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