dentsu Group Inc. announced its transition to a new globally integrated leadership structure designed to accelerate its business transformation and promote operational excellence. Accompanying these changes, the role of DI Global CEO will be discontinued and Wendy Clark will depart DI, effective December 31, 2022.
At that time, Ms. Clark will also step down as Director & Executive Officer of the Company. Until then, she will maintain her current position and moving forward, the Company will provide more detailed updates about its new global management structure, including changes to its senior management lineup.
These plans mark a major step forward in the leadership team’s ongoing business transformation efforts across the entire group following the launch of the comprehensive review in 2020.
Following a series of extensive discussions, the Company’s senior leadership team agreed to make structural changes to the group designed to accelerate business transformation, further enhance management capabilities and deepen client relationships. To this end, effective January 1, 2023, Dentsu group is making the following changes.
Ms. Clark said, “It’s hard to be prouder of our 46,000+ Dentsu International team members and leadership. It’s their brilliant thinking, hard work and commitment that has accelerated the opportunity for Dentsu International to now become fully integrated into Dentsu Group and led by One Management Team. While I will miss this team greatly, my confidence in them could not be higher and I will be cheering for their many successes to come.”
Clark announced her departure from Omnicom in April 2020 to become the global CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network. She reported to executive chairman Tim Andree who had returned from sick leave.
Before joining DDB, Clark spent seven years in regional and global marketing roles at Coca-Cola. Clark joined in September. When Clark made her announcement, Omnicom Chairman John Wren was less than pleased, even going as far as to troll her during an investors’ call.
“We were a bit shocked and put off when Wendy Clark (earlier this month) decided that she was going to move on in the middle of a crisis,” Wren said, adding that DDB entered 2020 in a “difficult situation” due to several client losses. Wren then noted, “But we were able to recover with no interruption at all because Chuck Brymer, who’d previously been the CEO, was with us and ready to step back in and has done a magnificent job irrespective of [the] behavior of his predecessor.”
REELated:
Dentsu’s Next Move
dentsu group will shift from operating through two business units—Dentsu japan network (DJN), and Dentsu International (DI)—to a global “One Management Team” structure, with business operations conducted in four regions—Japan, Americas, EMEA, and APAC. The “One Management Team” led by President & CEO Hiroshi Igarashi will comprise a culturally diverse group of leaders with a wealth of knowledge and experience.
The company will strengthen its client services by establishing a new client support platform to enhance the client experience at the global level and by promoting Integrated Growth Solutions (IGS), which bring together diverse capabilities within the group.
Dentsu group will globally integrate each of its corporate functions to build a common management platform. On September 15, 2022, Dentsu group will launch a dedicated Integration Office to drive a seamless transformation process.
President & CEO Igarashi said, “We are deeply grateful to Wendy for the significant contribution she has made in helping Dentsu group and Dentsu international recover their performance and build a strong foundation for the future.
The transition to the global “One Management Team” structure is an ongoing effort to realize the “comprehensive review” and “business transformation” of the entire group that we have been promoting since 2020. I am confident this will accelerate the group’s business growth and further enhance our corporate value. Making this a reality will require the close cooperation of the 67,000 employees across our global team.”
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