John Dunleavy Appointed as President for McCann Worldgroup North America

McCann Worldgroup announced today that John Dunleavy has been named to the new position of president, McCann Worldgroup, North America, effective January 23, 2023. He will report directly to McCann Worldgroup CEO Daryl Lee.

John joins the network from Ogilvy, where he served as global chief client officer and WPP global client leader for IBM. He will be responsible for driving deeper collaboration across the agencies within McCann Worldgroup in the region, accelerating the shared opportunities for transformation and growth with its agencies and clients. John will also manage McCann Worldgroup’s “Yes&” operating system that brings together a customised mix of expertise and capabilities from across the network to meet the needs of each client.

The newly-created role aligns McCann Worldgroup’s North American structure with its successful network leadership model in other regions. It is a role for which John is uniquely suited, given his long, successful track record of leading integrated teams for some of the world’s top brands. Prior to his tenure at Ogilvy, John served as global president of m:united//McCann, McCann Worldgroup’s dedicated global unit for Microsoft. Under his leadership, the agency played a crucial role in the transformation of the brand, winning hundreds of creative and effectiveness awards, including a coveted Cannes Lions Grand Prix and the Clio for Advertiser of the Year.

“John knows how to harness the power of collective creativity to make brands an authentic part of the cultural conversation and to ultimately grow businesses,” said Daryl Lee, global CEO, McCann Worldgroup. “His ability to bring out the best in people and their capabilities makes him the perfect person to captain and coach our teams in North America. We are excited to have him back.”

In 2018, John left McCann to lead WPP’s IBM relationship as global president of the Ogilvy and Mindshare joint venture, EightBar, where he led a multi-faceted team including strategy, creative and media. In 2020, his role expanded, and he was named global chief client officer for the Ogilvy Group, overseeing the agency’s full client portfolio. His previous experience includes senior management roles at Saatchi & Saatchi New York, Grey Group and Publicis. He began his career as an account director at EURO RSCG in London.

“McCann Worldgroup has some of the strongest agency brands, deepest capabilities, and brightest talent in the industry. The opportunity to help bring these amazing assets and people closer together with meaning and purpose to better serve Worldgroup’s clients is a dream role for me. On a more personal note, I’ve been very fortunate to work with some wonderful agencies, people and clients over the past 25 plus years, but McCann Worldgroup always felt like home. I’m beyond excited to return to work alongside so many great friends.”

John returns to McCann Worldgroup on the heels of a year of achievements for the network, recently adding Smirnoff, Converse, ASOS and Prudential to its client roster. In 2022, the network was named the Most Creatively Effective Agency Network for the fourth year in a row by the Effies; the number one Network in the WARC Effectiveness 100 ranking; Network of The Year for the fifth time by the Epica Awards; Network of the Year for the second time by the Gerety Awards; and Network of the Year by the 2022 ANDY Awards.