Ogilvy President of North American Advertising Chris Beresford-Hill is leaving the WPP agency after two years to join Omnicom’s BBDO as chief creative officer for the Americas. The appointment will be effective early in 2024, according to BBDO.

For Beresford-Hill, this marks a return to Omnicom Group and BBDO. He joined Ogilvy in 2021 from TBWA\Chiat\Day New York, where he was chief creative officer. Prior to TBWA, where he worked for just over four years, Beresford-Hill was executive creative director and executive VP at BBDO. While at BBDO, he worked on accounts including Foot Locker, Twix, HBO and others.

In his new post, Beresford-Hill will be reunited with Nancy Reyes, who was named BBDO’s CEO of the Americas in October after serving as CEO of TBWA\Chiat\Day New York. Beresford-Hill worked with Reyes both at TBWA and earlier in their careers at Omnicom’s Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.

“Chris coming home is particularly rewarding and personal for me,” said David Lubars, chief creative officer at BBDO Worldwide. “From the outset, I had him pegged as an important part of BBDO’s future. I was bummed when he left to work with Nancy—although now, having worked with her myself over the last few months, I understand why he did. Both reuniting under our banner sets the stage for BBDO's bright future.”

The chief creative officer Americas role is now held by Luiz Sanches, who remains chairman of Almap BBDO and will take on key multinational clients for BBDO.

“There is nothing more powerful than love,” said Beresford-Hill in a statement. “BBDO is a place I truly love and Nancy is someone I truly love partnering with. I’m so thankful David and Andrew [Robertson, BBDO’s CEO] have welcomed me back home and I have nothing but appreciation for the incredible people at Ogilvy who have taught me so much.”

Ogilvy announced Beresford-Hill’s departure in an internal memo today signed by Devika Bulchandani, its global CEO, and Liz Taylor, global chief creative officer.

It read, in part: “Our friend, Chris-Beresford Hill, recently made the decision to leave Ogilvy to pursue a new opportunity, one that will allow him to take on a broader leadership role at an agency where he spent the formative years of his career. It is important to remember that there are times when doing the right thing means supporting each other’s career growth, even when it means we won’t have them in our halls anymore.”

Ogilvy is believed to be seeking a successor.