In January, Waterhouse was thrilled to welcome Anna Prince, a marketing and communications leader with 15 years of experience across industry, agency, and academia, as a Group Director. I sat down with Anna to learn more about her background and what motivated her to join our growing agency.
We are thrilled to have you on our team, Anna! What inspired you to join Waterhouse?
Early in the interview process, I was drawn to Waterhouse’s goal of helping companies build their brands as a force for good. I’ve worked with healthcare and life sciences companies throughout my career and have always been passionate about doing work that makes a lasting, positive impact, especially for patients.
I was also drawn to Waterhouse because of the people. I always look for environments that will challenge me to get outside of my comfort zone so I can grow and learn, and that’s what I’ve found here. The team is extremely talented, creative, driven, and most importantly, committed to doing extraordinary work for our clients. Every person here inspires me to show up every day ready to do the best work possible to elevate our clients’ brands and reputations.
Tell me more about your role and the strategic lens you’ll bring to our work.
As Group Director, I’m excited to use my experience as a leader, storyteller, brand and creative strategist, and employee engagement specialist to serve as a strategic thought partner on a range of life sciences and employee communications topics, both for our clients and internally.
There is so much opportunity to position our clients for success in this everchanging landscape. There’s incredible innovation in biotech right now, but it’s also a crowded space, so it’s more important than ever for companies to differentiate themselves and to find their unique, ownable competitive edge. Also, with the pandemic continuing to change the way we work, there is a greater need to clearly communicate and engage employees to retain and attract top talent.
Thinking back on your career, what experiences have prepared you for this moment?
Early in my career I spent almost a decade at a communications agency working my way up from account coordinator to account supervisor. I worked on some of our largest clients and had the opportunity to manage comprehensive reputation campaigns—from producing TV commercials, to building websites, to developing social media content, to pitching media, and everything in between. Most importantly, I learned to think strategically and began to understand the critical role marketing and communications play in supporting overall business objectives.
More recently, I was Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. I joined three months after the organization launched, and I had the opportunity to play a leading role in building the brand from the ground up. In addition to being a start-up, we worked at the intersection of nonprofit, academia, pharma and biotech, so I learned how to navigate these different sectors and how they all fit together. And with a small team, I was able to wear many hats, gaining deep experience across multiple disciplines: stakeholder engagement, employee communications and engagement, executive communications, and thought leadership.
These diverse experiences directly translate to our work at Waterhouse and will be invaluable as we continue to work at the intersection of Corporate Communications and HR to build impactful corporate brands.
To end on a more personal note, what do you like to do for fun when you’re not working?
I moved to the Bay Area five years ago from North Carolina, and I spend a lot of my free time exploring the West Coast. I love to travel to new places in California—Palm Springs and Healdsburg are my favorite so far. I also love to explore the restaurant scene in San Francisco and try new places and cuisines as often as I can.
We are so glad you joined the Waterhouse team and look forward to all the projects we’ll tackle together in 2022 and beyond!
To learn more about Anna’s experience, visit her LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaprince/