For immediate release on 7/30/18, 2018 at 7am PT/10am ET
Contact: Christina Arbini, Public Relations, [email protected] or 206-310-1401
SUBSTANTIAL APPOINTS CAREY JENKINS CEO
Jenkins named Seattle-based, digital agency’s first female CEO
SEATTLE, WA – Digital design and development agency, Substantial, has recently appointed Carey Jenkins its new CEO. In this position, Jenkins is charged with overseeing digital teams working on national and global product development for clients, and overall company performance including strategic direction, brand equity, and growth and empowerment of the agency’s personnel.
Jenkins brings with her over 17 years of experience in client services and delivery management. When she began her six-year tenure at Substantial, she was initially hired as one of the agency’s first engagement managers, before rising through the ranks to Director, then VP of Client Services. During this time, Substantial made a significant impact on a host of brands including Mercedes Benz, Amazon, IDEO, University of Washington, Haworth, News Corp./Dow Jones, and Novartis.
“I am thrilled for this leadership opportunity,” said Jenkins. “My path to this position was nothing if not unconventional. I had to prove myself, of course, but the hardest part was admitting to myself I wanted it and giving myself the chance to fight for it. I was the sixth woman to work at Substantial. Now we have 37% females overall, and our leadership team is comprised of 40%. I know we can still do better across the board in diversity. And I hope seeing a female CEO will send a definitive message to women to step up and out of their comfort zone, particularly in technology.”
Jenkins’ journey to CEO includes a liberal arts and journalism background, rather than a formal design or computer engineering education. But it’s her extensive experience in client relations that has directly influenced her leadership style, which is built on a foundation of fostering authentic relationships — both internal and external.
With a personal mission to lead with humility, empathy, integrity and humor, Jenkins’ priority as CEO is to create an environment that inspires compassion and empowers risk‐taking and ambition amongst her entire team.
“Good product comes from creators who work in a great environment,” said Jenkins. “My goal is for our employees to feel without a doubt that they are valued, that their lives, their health, and their growth matter, and have a direct effect on the amazing work we do with our clients and the trust we build with them. I’ve seen client services approached in a variety of ways, but what we have at Substantial is a truly unique expectation of both what our clients bring to our process and how we collaborate with them.”
About Substantial
For 11+ years, Substantial (www.substantial.com) has specialized in digital product creation for national and global brands. From design, development, and strategy for existing and new lines of business, to helping clients go from concept to launch, and building a scalable long-term product team, we deliver exceptional products with radical transparency. We are a nimble team of experienced product builders that partner with both start‐ups and large companies to bring digital products to market and establish best practices to nurture sustainable software. Headquartered in Seattle, Substantial also has distributed fulltime team members in the Bay Area and UK.