The Prodigal Account Director Returns to Young & Laramore

Adrienne Strange returns as first SVP, Chief Client Officer after a decade building national brands at GSD&M

Sometimes the best hire is someone who already knows where the coffee maker is. Adrienne Strange is rejoining Young & Laramore as the Indianapolis indie’s first SVP, Chief Client Officer—a role that didn’t exist when she left more than 10 years ago. But then again, neither did the national client roster she helped build at GSD&M, where she led multi-channel work for the U.S. Air Force and other major brands.

Strange’s appointment marks a homecoming with purpose: she’ll oversee all client operations, ensuring client success, business growth and team performance across the agency. Reporting directly to President & CEO Tom Denari, she joins the leadership team at a moment when Y&L continues expanding its national footprint while staying true to its indie roots in that restored 19th-century schoolhouse.

Where she’s been: Building trust at scale

After starting her advertising career at Y&L, Strange moved to GSD&M, where she served as VP, Account Director. The work was large-scale and complex—managing the U.S. Air Force account requires both strategic chops and operational discipline. She built trust-based client partnerships and developed integrated teams capable of handling the demands of national brand work. That experience shaped her approach to client leadership: build strong relationships, create conditions for great work, and make sure the trains run on time.

What she’s coming back to do

As Chief Client Officer, Strange will partner with Y&L’s creative, media and strategy leads to deliver high-impact, results-driven work. She’ll lead the agency’s client portfolio with a focus on satisfaction, retention and growth—three metrics that matter when you’re independent and every client relationship is personal. The role is new because Y&L needed it: the agency is growing, the work is getting bigger, and someone needs to make sure all the moving parts move together.

Why this matters: Experience meets culture

“Adrienne was an emerging star when she was at Y&L more than a decade ago,” said Denari. “She comes back to Y&L with deep client leadership experience and a modern approach to growth, knowing how to create conditions where creativity and performance can thrive.”

That last part is key. Strange isn’t just returning with a bigger title—she’s bringing a decade of experience scaling client operations without losing the creative spark. She knows how to balance business performance with creative excellence, which is exactly what independent agencies need to compete with holding-company scale while maintaining indie agility.

The full circle moment

Strange herself frames the return as coming back to where her approach was formed. “This agency shaped how I think about creativity and collaboration,” she said. “My focus now is to deepen client partnerships, strengthen how our teams work together, and help brands grow through the kind of bold creative work Y&L is known for.”

It’s the kind of statement that sounds like standard executive-speak until you remember she left Y&L as an account person and is returning as the first Chief Client Officer—a role created specifically to support the agency’s next phase of growth. Sometimes you have to leave home to appreciate what you had. And sometimes you come back with exactly the skills your old agency needs.

Y&L currently works with clients including Brizo, Cummins, Spangler Candy, Farm Bureau Insurance, Happy Egg and Goodwill. The agency describes itself as proudly independent, answering to no one but its clients and its own compass. Located in that 19th-century schoolhouse, they identify first and foremost as students of the consumer.

With Strange back in the building, they’ve added a returning alum who left to learn and came back to lead.