More About Grant Toups
As Burson’s Global Chief Digital & Intelligence Officer, Grant is charged with driving the agency’s growth and delivery of digital services to solve client challenges and deliver measurable business impact. He leads a global team of professionals managing a suite of offerings including digital and social communications; reputation enhancement and defense; technology and AI advisory; and advanced intelligence, research, measurement and analytics.
A 2021 PRWeek Dashboard 25 honoree, Grant is regarded as one of the most influential executives in CommTech and a leading voice on the technological future of communications. He is a leader in the Arthur W. Page Society, serving as an influential voice in the group’s thought leadership efforts, a convener of the annual Page Future Leaders’ Experience and a founding member and operating committee member of Page Up. A frequent speaker and lecturer, he also serves on the Board of Directors of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Center for Public Relations.
Prior to Burson, Grant served as Hill & Knowlton’s first Global Chief Technology Officer, leading the agency’s end-to-end technology and intelligence strategy, working across H&K and WPP to build the firm’s ecosystem of technology-based offerings and improve the use of data science and analytics to drive client success and employee growth and experience. During his tenure he formed the firm’s Intelligence & Technology capability and created and launched H&K’s AI-powered tech portfolio: The H&K Sonar risk sensing and disinformation intelligence tool and The Fount data integration and analysis tool.
Grant joined H&K from ICF Next, where he played a principal role in conceptualizing and launching the agency and integrating nearly a dozen independent businesses under one global brand. He went on to lead large portions of the business, including the Technology, Experience & Loyalty and Strategy & Transformation business units. He also served in key functional roles leading growth and business development, marketing, and analyst relations for the agency.
Prior to ICF Next, Grant led PulsePoint Group as its managing partner and president. During his tenure, after helping to found the firm, he created and led the firm’s Organizational Optimization & Transformation practice and deployed some of corporate America’s first social media listening command centers.
Grant has worked with leading clients at Anthem, Bank of America, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Centene, Charter Communications, Chevron, Corteva, CVS Health, Fannie Mae, Ford Motor, General Electric, Google/Alphabet, Hilton, HPE, Hyatt, Johnson & Johnson, Lam Research, Lexus, Kaiser Permanente, Novartis, Pfizer, Spotify, Toyota, UnitedHealth Group, Visa, The Walt Disney Company and Wells Fargo, among others.
Grant is an avid concert goer and music aficionado, an amateur potter, a seasoned scuba diver, an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and a PRWeek 2022 Pride in PR honoree. He is a native of Thibodaux, LA and currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.
Art Direction by Wynn Burson
Photography by Tina Tyrell