McCann Worldgroup Announces Leadership Changes

Today McCann Worldgroup announced a series of organisational changes to drive smoother collaboration between its agencies and ensure faster speed to market for creative solutions and new capabilities.

Following the recent announcement that McCann Worldgroup global CEO Daryl Lee will be assuming the additional responsibility of McCann global CEO as Chris Macdonald returns to the UK, Daryl announced that the global chief creative officer role across McCann Worldgroup and McCann will also be combined into one global CCO position. With the new role requiring more of a focus on McCann’s advertising vertical, Alex Lopez, global president and chief creative officer, McCann Worldgroup, has decided to depart the organisation.

The underlying goal is to create the conditions for greater collaboration and agility between the companies in the McCann Worldgroup network, which include McCann (advertising), MRM (martech and relationship marketing), Craft (production) and FutureBrand (brand strategy and design), while further strengthening the McCann flagship agency.

Other key global leaders taking on additional responsibilities across McCann Worldgroup include:

• Suzanne Powers, global president and CSO, is being promoted to chair of FutureBrand and global chief product officer, McCann Worldgroup. In this new role, Suzanne is charged with elevating creative and strategic product excellence, innovation, and thought leadership across Worldgroup agencies. She will also lead the integration of FutureBrand’s brand strategy and design solutions into the McCann Worldgroup portfolio.
• Kate MacNevin, global chair and CEO of MRM, is being promoted to global chief operating officer of McCann Worldgroup, while retaining her MRM role. Kate’s remit will be to optimise day-to-day operations, focusing on infrastructure across production, systems transformation, and IT, to fuel fitness and agility for clients.
• Nannette Dufour will be taking on the additional responsibilities of global chief sustainability officer, a new role for the company, as well as retaining her role as global chief client officer, McCann Worldgroup. The chief sustainability officer role will focus on partnering with clients to meet shared sustainability goals, while leading internal sustainability efforts.
• Harjot Singh, global CSO of McCann, is being promoted to global chief strategy officer of McCann Worldgroup, while retaining his McCann role. He will now lead the highly-regarded strategy discipline across all of McCann Worldgroup companies.

“Clients need connected solutions to their brand and marketing challenges, which requires us to work fluidly across agency lines to deliver ideas that are powered by our collective creativity. These changes set us up to do that at speed, with everyone at McCann Worldgroup working as one united team,” said Daryl. 

“I joined McCann Worldgroup to create impact through new models of creativity, across the entirety of the network. I’m proud of the strides we’ve made, especially in bringing a brand perspective to how we work and our moves into entertainment. As the CCO role shifts to one that will be focused more on traditional advertising in their daily work, I am stepping aside to allow someone to take over who will bring the same passion to the job as I did during my time leading the organization. I have loved my time at McCann Worldgroup and wish the team here all the best,” said Alex.

“Alex has been a powerful force for change and reinvention in his time at McCann Worldgroup, championing creative diversity in all its forms and pioneering our fast-growing entertainment practice,” added Daryl. “We know he will continue to drive progress in the industry and look forward to partnering with him in the future.”

McCann Worldgroup will announce the appointment of the new dual CCO in due course. In the interim, the company has a deep bench of the industry’s best creative leadership globally and in the regions who will ensure creative excellence remains at the top of the company’s agenda.

Daryl concluded, “We are excited to promote four exceptional leaders in Suzanne, Kate, Nannette, and Harjot. Suzanne has helped McCann Worldgroup become the most creatively effective network in the world for the past four consecutive years. She is passionate about collective creativity and its exponential impact and possesses the wide-ranging vision required to design the creative and strategic product of tomorrow for us today. As the leader of MRM, Kate understands marketing transformation deeply and how to deliver it at scale. She is not afraid to challenge old approaches to unlock new ways of working so we get things done faster and better for clients. Nannette’s new role brings together her passion for sustainability and her trusted partnership with clients to help us move forward with purpose on this vital issue for our planet. Harjot brings clarity to the complex and puts his own inimitable style and humanity at the heart of every brand and marketing solution. He is a wonderfully inclusive leader and will continue the great work of the global strategy community across McCann Worldgroup. We are fortunate to have these leaders steering us forward on our mission to help brands earn a meaningful role in people’s lives.”