Ogilvy & Mather, at its Board meeting in São Paulo, Brazil, announced that Shelly Lazarus, Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather from 1997, will step down and move into the role of Chairman Emeritus, effective July 1, 2012. Miles Young, CEO, will succeed her, in her role as Chairman.
At the same time, two new directors were elected to the Board: Steve Harding, Global CEO of OgilvyAction, and Thomas Strerath, CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Germany.
Miles Young commented, “Shelly Lazarus is an exceptional individual, an outstanding leader and an inspirational evangelist for branding. I remain grateful that Shelly will, going forward, serve as Chairman Emeritus, and she will still be coming to the office, and will still be contributing to many of our clients’ businesses. For 15 years she has guided the agency of David Ogilvy perfectly to the letter and the spirit of the founder.”
Steve Harding became Global CEO of OgilvyAction in 2009 after runing the unit in EAME for three years. He has over 20 years experience in sales and promotion, and joined the agency after the company he founded, Tarantula Activation Communications, was acquired by O&M in 2005. Thomas Strerath has been CEO of O&M Germany since June 2009. He started his career at O&M in 2005 as managing director of OgilvyOne Frankfurt and was named CEO of OgilvyOne Germany a year later, following which he has done an outstanding job growing the stature of the agency’s operations in Germany. He came to O&M from BtoB agency WOB AG in Vernheim. Prior to that he was a creative director at a television production company and also ran his own agency, Vogelsang Strerath.
Ogilvy & Mather is one of the largest marketing communications companies in the world. Through its specialty units, the company provides a comprehensive range of marketing services including: advertising; public relations and public affairs; branding and identity; shopper and retail marketing; healthcare communications; direct, digital, promotion and relationship marketing. Ogilvy & Mather services Fortune Global 500 companies as well as local businesses through its network of more than 450 offices in 120 countries.
Source: O&M