Kirsty O'Connor, Managing Director, North Seventy FiveNorth Seventy Five, a new integrated communications agency launched in late 2025, has marked a growth milestone with the appointment of Kirsty O’Connor as Managing Director.
O’Connor has spent the last nine years at Burson, one of the region’s largest communication agencies, where she built its Innovation Hub and focused on digital, data and artificial intelligence integration and productisation.
Reuniting with agency founders, Lisa Welsh and Iman Issa, O’Connor’s appointment will also see her develop the agency’s AI offering with the support of Paritee’s AI team and newly acquired sister agency Truth Consulting. She will focus on driving innovation and intelligence amid recent client wins.
Commenting on the appointment, Lisa Welsh, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at North Seventy Five, said, “We launched North Seventy Five in response to a clear market pull: clients want senior-led, agile, locally rooted teams with the ability to solve complex challenges at speed. With Kirsty’s appointment we continue to deliver on that promise. She has a unique skillset in communications and a proven history of transforming and innovating, not only client briefs but training talent in new communications skills. We are delighted to have her onboard with immediate effect.”
A Middle East PR Association Strategy Board member since 2023, O’Connor was named in PRovoke Media’s Innovator 25 list for EMEA in the same year, which recognises the top 25 changemakers in the industry. She is also a renowned industry judge, sitting on juries for The Gerety Awards and PR Week Global Awards in 2025, and is a well-known AI consultant in the region driving excellence in this area.
“There has never been a bigger opportunity for those working in communications,” said O’Connor. “The agency model is evolving at speed once again, and so are the skillsets required to work in them. Joining North Seventy Five is truly special as we can rewrite the agency model completely.”
North Seventy Five is part of the European communications network Paritee, which provides the newly formed agency with immediate global backing and marks Paritee’s expansion in the Middle East.
North Seventy Five offers tailored integrated communications services spanning strategy, creative campaigns, design and identity, content and publishing, leadership training, corporate communication, crisis response and data intelligence, and is a founding member of the Alliance of Independent Agencies MENA.
The agency’s partnership with Paritee’s EMEA platform establishes its first strategic foothold in Dubai, serving as a gateway to the MENA region.
Alongside its agencies, Brands2Life (UK/US), Truth Consulting (UK/global), Fenton Fitzwilliam (Ireland/Brussels), Geelmuyden Kiese (Denmark, Norway, Sweden), LHLK Gruppe (Germany) and RPP Group (Brussels, France, Spain, Italy), the addition of North Seventy Five enhances Paritee’s ability to serve clients across borders, secure international mandates as well as attract talent.
The group now operates across more than 17 offices in 12 countries, serving transformative industries such as technology and AI, energy and infrastructure, healthcare and life sciences and financial services.
