by Fern Siegel

Media planning and buying agency Novus has appointed Alison LaRocque vice president, director of integrated client strategy.

LaRocque joins from Upwork, where she led the brand media function and overall media strategy, overseeing a budget of $60 million.

She reports to Rob Davis, president-CMO at Novus, who calls her “a bit of a unicorn.”

A 15-year ad vet, LaRocque has experience on both the agency and brand side.

The agencies she’s worked at include Starcom, Initiative, Mindshare and Zenith. Accounts include Verizon Wireless and American Family Insurance.

Prior to Upwork, LaRocque was a member of the global media team at Indeed, overseeing multichannel media plans for the U.S. and Canada. She also worked for CB2, in charge of its digital marketing efforts with a specific emphasis on paid social. At Upwork and CB2, LaRocque ran agency reviews.

“Novus has a unique positioning of looking at media through the lens of geography, and is a bit of a David-and-Goliath story. I look forward to helping them slay some more giants,” LaRocque said.