MEC and Maxus Announce NewCo UK Leadership Team

Tim Castree, Global CEO of MEC and GroupM’s ‘NewCo’ today announced that Jason Dormieux, MEC’s UK CEO, will take on the role of CEO of the new combined MEC and Maxus 'NewCo' agency in the UK when it launches in January 2018. 

Dormieux will lead a new management team which will include Anna Hickey, Maxus UK MD, who will take on the UK MD role, and Paul Hutchison, MEC COO, who has been named COO of NewCo.

Jason Dormieux has been MEC UK’s CEO since January 2016 and since then the agency has won and retained over £250m in new business billings and was named Campaign’s Media Agency of the Year in 2016. Prior to this he spent two years as joint CEO, building a diverse offering including the restructure of MEC’s Performance team and the launch of the agency’s hugely successful Wavemaker offer. 

Anna Hickey has been Maxus MD for more than two years and prior to joining was chair of the commercial strategy board for MEC.  She will take responsibility for developing client relationships and overseeing the new agency’s talent and culture.  MEC’s current UK MD Sarah Hennessy recently announced that she is leaving the company to take some time out of the industry for a few months.  

As COO, Paul Hutchison will be responsible for NewCo's communications planning, activation and commercial teams and for driving key client relationships. All three roles become effective in January 2018. 

Tim Castree, CEO of MEC and NewCo commented: “We’re merging Maxus and MEC  to form a brand new billion dollar revenue media content and technology agency, dubbed ‘NewCo’ for now.  With such ambition, comes a need for brilliant talent to lead and inspire, and so today’s news is very exciting for us.  Under Jason’s leadership, supported by Anna and Paul, I am confident that we have the right team in place to truly blend the best of MEC and Maxus and make NewCo UK a formidable future-facing agency.” 

Jason Dormieux

Jason was appointed Chief Executive Officer of MEC UK in January 2016 and since then the agency has won and retained over £250m in new business billings and been named Campaign’s Media Agency of the Year 2016.  Prior to this he spent two years as joint CEO, building a diverse offering including the restructure of MEC’s Performance team and the launches of Wavemaker, the content offering and Tonic, its tech division. MEC won the Chairman’s Award for Innovation and Agency of the Year at the Campaign Media Awards 2015.

Jason was previously Chief Operating Officer, during which time he built the agency’s digital, data, performance, investment and commercial teams. Jason joined the agency in 2006 to lead its direct and digital business, MEC Interaction. Prior to joining MEC, Jason was a board director at Zed, ZenithOptimedia’s digital and direct business. Jason is a passionate supporter of the IPA and sits on both the membership committee and the IPA Council itself.

Anna Hickey 

Since joining Maxus in 2015 as managing director, Anna has focused on making Maxus the best place to work in the UK while achieving a growth in billings of £80 million in the past year, with 45 new jobs being created. She developed the agency’s people strategy and is spearheading a major equality and diversity drive. Under her leadership, morale and retention have both increased – and Maxus was ranked the highest agency of any discipline in The Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to Work For list in 2017.

Paul Hutchison

Paul was promoted to Chief Operating Officer of MEC UK in 2015. He is responsible for leading MEC UK’s operations to ensure its structure and process is continuously reinvented to deliver innovative and creative solutions that drive growth for clients. 

Paul is responsible for senior client relationships across MEC UK. He has led a number of successful new business pitches, including Nationwide and The Premier League, as well as retaining and growing existing relationships with Kingfisher and Morrisons, all in the last 12 months.

Paul has held a variety of roles in his 20 year career. He joined MEC as managing partner and head of comms planning in 2010, from Vizeum where he spent three years in an equivalent role. Prior to that he was a planning director at DLKW Lowe (now Mullen Lowe) and before that he worked at the media auditors the Billett Consultancy.