BBDO Worldwide’s Andrew Robertson and Nancy Reyes
After more than 20 years as BBDO Worldwide’s CEO and president, Andrew Robertson is being succeeded by Nancy Reyes.
Robertson, who will become BBDO’s first global chairman, said this move was his intention when he hired Reyes last year as BBDO’s Americas CEO.
Reyes has proven to be “everything that I’d hoped for and more,” Robertson said, adding that she is fast, decisive and “great with clients.”
Reyes will assume her new role in October, exactly one year since she joined the Omnicom Group network. Reyes becomes the first woman and person of color to hold the global CEO role at BBDO.
There are no current plans to fill Reyes’ position as Americas CEO.
Robertson said he will be active as chairman, advising Reyes and working with clients.
“It’s time for a new era, and Nancy is going to lead that era.” Robertson said. “I am not retiring. I do want to do the job of chairman, and I want to do it because it’s something I think I can add value with.”
Reyes said she looks forward to Robertson providing “guidance and support.”
Robertson started at BBDO in the U.K. in 1995, joining Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, where he would eventually become CEO. He took on the BBDO North America president and CEO titles in 2001 and assumed the global role in 2004. This experience led to Robertson wanting to give Reyes some time to learn about the network in a smaller role, as he did, before taking over global duties.
“Part of that means bringing them in, giving them time to get to know the clients, to get to know the network, to make some of the changes that she’s going to want to make initially in the Americas, and then set her up for more and more responsibility as you move forward,” Robertson said.
Robertson, who was named to the American Advertising Federation’s Hall of Fame in 2022, helped lead BBDO to seven Network of the Year wins at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. He also helped BBDO land clients including The Home Depot, Enterprise Holdings and Heineken.
“We have been extremely lucky to have an industry titan at the helm of BBDO for over two decades,” said John Wren, Chairman and CEO of Omnicom.
The move is the latest in a changing of the guard at the 7,000-person agency network.
Last week, it was reported that Jiah Choi was joining the agency to lead both of BBDO’s New York and Chicago offices. In April, the network’s Global Chief Creative Officer David Lubars announced his retirement. Lubars is being succeeded by Chris Beresford-Hill, who was named BBDO’s Americas chief creative officer last December.
Longtime BBDO execs Jeff Adkins and Kirsten Flanik, who led Energy BBDO and BBDO New York, respectively, have also departed. Flanik was recently named the North America CEO of creative consultancy Revolt.
“It’s part of renewing and refreshing what we have to offer and how we deliver it,” Robertson said of recent executive changes. “What you’ll see moving forward is it's not so much the volume of changes that matters, it’s the impact and leverage of each of those changes.”
