Sam Corry

In 2025, Taylor Herring faced one of the most pivotal moments in its history. Founders Cath Taylor and James Herring announced their departure after nearly 25 years at the helm. Stepping into this moment was Sam Corry - a 13-year veteran of the business - transitioning from Managing Director to CEO. But this was no ordinary leadership handover. At the very start of the year, Sam was entrusted with this highly confidential news, with a formal departure for Cath and James set for October. In practice, however, both founders took an immediate step back from day-to-day decision-making, commercial strategy and operations. This placed Sam in the extraordinary position of having to design and deliver a full agency transformation behind the scenes, while maintaining complete business continuity. For much of the year, he was effectively running two parallel businesses: one visible to clients and the market, and one being re-engineered for the future. Corry led a confidential, end-to-end transformation of Taylor Herring’s structure, proposition and culture. He redefined the agency’s strategic direction, evolved its creative and media offering, restructured teams for growth, and introduced a modern leadership model built for long-term sustainability. Critically, he achieved this without destabilising the business. In fact, 2025 became the most successful year in the agency’s history - with record financial performance, major new client wins, and multiple industry awards.