Kevin Roberts Announces Saatchi & Saatchi Leadership Transition 2015

I have exciting news to share with you about the new generation of leadership at Saatchi & Saatchi. This follows an announcement today by Publicis Groupe.

Commencing January 1, 2015, I will become Executive Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi, based in New York. In addition, I shall be accelerating leadership development across the Groupe, in the newly-created position of Head Coach, Publicis Groupe.

Robert Senior will become Worldwide CEO reporting to me, and based in London. He is currently CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon Group in EMEA and Chairman of our Creative Board. Robert has an outstanding ability to inspire world-changing creative work, to communicate to clients the ways to navigate the challenges of today’s consumer landscape, and has a deep feeling for what makes Saatchi & Saatchi unique. Creative, Operations, Planning, Finance and Talent leaders will report to Robert.

Chris Foster will become Worldwide Chief Operating Officer, reporting to Robert, and based in Singapore. Chris is currently CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Asia Pacific. In our network he has unsurpassed US and international business experience, is an exceptional client and team leader, and importantly, is based in the world’s growth engine of Asia. Agency CEOs and operational heads will report to Chris.

I have worked very closely with Robert and Chris over the past two years preparing them for these roles, and as Executive Chairman I will continue to mentor them as they grow into their new roles. Robert and Chris have deep Saatchi & Saatchi leadership experience, they have been generators of our growth and creative momentum, and they bring highly complementary skills together to create an alchemy that will write the next chapter of Saatchi & Saatchi’s story as a global creative leader.

This succession plan will allow us to move forward in a well-planned, confident and sustainable manner.

(For football followers, we have studied the leadership succession failures at Manchester United, and have understood, and actioned, exactly what to do and what not to do!!).

I will retain personal responsibility for our US Toyota and Lexus business as we navigate our key client’s 2016 move to Plano, Texas. Kurt Ritter will report directly to me during this time.

Robert, Chris and I will announce further internal news following our Global Leadership Team meeting in New York next week.

As you will read from the Groupe announcement, Maurice and I will continue to serve on the Groupe Directoire until the 2016 results are approved – end of Q1 2017. At that time further announcements around our plans will be made.

KEVIN ROBERTS CNZM


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