Havas London Appoints Holly Ripper as CEO

Creative agency Havas London has named Holly Ripper, managing director at BBH London, as its new CEO. An experienced, progressive and entrepreneurial leader motivated by the transformational power of commercial creativity, the appointment marks her first CEO role. 

Holly – who will work alongside Havas London chief creative officer Vicki Maguire, chief client officer Catherine Peacock, chief strategy officer Matt Springate and chief design officer Lorenzo Fruzza – completes the King’s Cross-based agency’s leadership team. 

She will ultimately be responsible for boosting the creativity and effectiveness of its output, improving and future-proofing its commercial performance, nurturing an inclusive and dynamic internal culture, fostering existing client relationships and winning new ones – building on a new business momentum which has seen the agency win high-profile brands including Nomad Foods (pan-Europe), Asahi Super Dry (global) and VisitEngland in the past three months alone. 

Holly will report into Mark Whelan, Havas UK chairman and group chief creative officer, and start in May 2025. 

She joins following a decade at BBH London, most recently as managing director – a role she was promoted to in 2022. On being appointed, Holly promised to ‘make good things happen’, and that she did: retaining Ribena, shaping a new output of work with wins like Netflix and Girl v Cancer and helping bring F&F Clothing into BBH alongside Tesco Mobile. Alongside key partners, Holly set up BBH’s upstream Brand Transformation offering and delivered growth across the Health by BBH portfolio. She has helped drive operational agility and profitability and held responsibility for account management, new business, PR, HR, and culture, as well as leading key core client relationships. 

Holly joined BBH in 2015 to help drive the brand-led turnaround of Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer. Under her watch as business lead, BBH helped Tesco create culture-shaping work, delivering an estimated £644m of incremental profit at a ROMI of £3.54 and winning an IPA Effectiveness Grand Prix. 

At BBH, she also held head of account management, managing partner and head of growth roles, winning accounts including Ray-Ban, Netflix, Ribena, Häagen-Dazs, King Games and F&F Clothing.

Prior to BBH, Holly spent spells at start-up Green Cave People as managing partner (2013-2015), Ogilvy UK as business director (2012-2013), Havas Sydney as group account director (2009-2011), and Ogilvy UK and Sydney as account director (2006-2009). 

She is a NABs committee member, sits on the All-In Gender Working Group, and is a BRiM sponsor. AT BBH, she established BBH Influence, a manager training programme to promote a ‘feedback culture’, HERd, a programme designed to accelerate the next generation of female leaders, and rebooted Homegrown, a four-month placement with an above London Living Wage starting salary. 

Donna Murphy, global CEO, Havas Creative and Havas Health Networks, says, “I am thrilled to welcome Holly as CEO. There’s an energy, confidence and momentum running through Havas London, driven brilliantly by Vicki, Catherine, Matt and Lorenzo, and her appointment completes what is an outstanding line-up. Holly wholeheartedly believes in the pursuit of creative excellence and in creating a healthy, energetic environment – which is exactly what we stand for at Havas.”

Holly Ripper, incoming CEO at Havas London, says, “Havas is a melting pot of great talent, diverse expertise, ambitious clients and an infectious entrepreneurial energy. I'm thrilled to be joining this modern creative business and dynamic leadership team in Vicki, Catherine, Matt and Zo. They are already moving mountains, so my job will be to help fuel that momentum and clear the way for brilliant people to create unordinary ideas that connect with ordinary needs and impact the clients' business; to echo Vicki’s decree at the start of the year, “This is no time for mealy-mouthed platitudes or playing it safe”. Havas London is perfectly positioned to become a little bit dangerous, and that is very enticing. 

“It has been a privilege to work at BBH for the past ten years, living up to the highest creative standards alongside the loveliest of people.”