Publicis Groupe Chief Strategy Officer Carla Serrano and Susie Nam, who was named CEO of Publicis Creative U.S.
Susie Nam has been named CEO of Publicis Creative U.S., effective immediately, joining Publicis Groupe as Andrew Swinand prepares to leave the holding company in the spring.
Nam, who left her position as Droga5 CEO of Americas eight months ago, will lead creative across Publicis Groupe U.S. agencies including Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi, Fallon, BBH, Team One, The Community and Turner Duckworth. She will report to Publicis Groupe Chief Strategy Officer Carla Serrano.
Nam replaces Swinand, who became CEO of Publicis Groupe U.S. Creative and Production in January 2021. He has also been CEO of Leo Burnett since 2017.
The agency said Swinand “is leaving the organization in the spring to pursue other opportunities.”
It’s unclear what plans Publicis has for filling his role as Leo Burnett CEO. “News of that appointment is forthcoming,” an agency spokesperson said.
Nam will not assume control over Le Truc, which serves as an ad hoc creative service collaborating across all Publicis Groupe agencies. Serrano, its president and co-founder, will continue to lead that group, which launched in 2021.
“I’m looking forward to this next chapter—especially excited to be an advocate for the power and impact that creativity can and should have in this climate,” Nam said in a statement.
Nam declined an interview.
Nam, a longtime Droga5 executive, left the agency in April. She had joined the shop in 2009, three years after its founding, when it had just 35 employees in New York, and was part of the core team of early executives who turned it into one of the hottest shops of the past decade. The agency’s flagship New York office alone now employs more than 500 people, working alongside four global hubs.
Nam was promoted to CEO of Americas in 2021, two years after Droga5 was acquired by Accenture Interactive.
“Susie’s last role focused on finding that bridge between creativity, data, technology and consultancy,” Serrano said in a statement. “Her new position at Publicis allows her to fulfill this vision in practice, and tremendous opportunity lies ahead for our clients, our agency brands and our talent.”
Nam has talked about how meaningful her time at Droga5 had been, especially as a Korean-American woman rising through the ranks of one of the industry’s top creative agencies.
“Throughout my career, being a Korean American woman meant there was an inherent tension. I felt at once invisible and applauded for just existing—as the first and only, as a working mother, as a woman of color,” Nam previously said. “It took time to reconcile all of that and find my version of leading.”
Publicis praised Nam for “her ongoing advocacy and leadership for diversity, equality and inclusion across communities.” Nam is chair of the ADCOLOR board of directors, the industry organization dedicated to celebrating and promoting creative professionals of color.
Andrew Swinand
Swinand has been an influential executive within Publicis Groupe for the past several years and often was at the center of Chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun’s “Power of One” model and vision for the holding company.
After working at BBDO and Procter & Gamble as a marketing director early in his career, Swinand served as the president of Publicis Media’s Starcom for nearly 11 years. He went out on his own in 2011, becoming a serial entrepreneur, then returned to Publicis, joining Leo Burnett in 2017 as North American CEO.
When he returned, Leo Burnett also acquired The Abundancy and Ardent, two digital shops from the portfolio of Abundant Venture Partners, the accelerator network of startups and tech firms that Swinand founded while he was away from Publicis.
Swinand declined to comment.
