Ogilvy Fires Global CCO Tham Khai Meng
Ogilvy has fired it’s Globa Chief Creative Officer, Tham Khai Meng, after a two week investigation into misconduct complaints.
Chief Executive John Siefert revealed the news in an official memo, in which he said that internal complaints had surfaced that were serious enough to warrant legal counsel and an investigation.
No details on the specific nature of the complaints were shared, but Siefert said that the behaviour was a ‘clear breach of our company values and code of conduct’.
Tham Khai Meng – commonly known as Khai – had been in the global role at Ogilvy since 2009. He started his career at Leo Burnett in London and Chicago and then moved to Singapore. There he moved to Batey and in 2000 became the Regional Creative director at Ogilvy Mather for Asia Pacifc.
Read the full memo below:
Two weeks ago, I was informed of employee complaints regarding the behaviour of Tham Khai Meng, Chief Creative Officer of The Ogilvy Group.
I found these complaints serious enough to appoint external legal counsel to investigate the matter.
After carefully reviewing the investigation’s findings with several of my partners, we concluded that Khai’s behavior was a clear breach of our company values and code of conduct. I have decided to terminate Khai’s employment with the company with immediate effect.
Each year, we ask every employee in the company to read, authorize, and fully commit to a code of conduct that each of us is responsible for living up to. Over the past 70 years, we have institutionalized shared values and a standard of professional behavior unique to the Ogilvy brand.
This is an important moment to reaffirm that no individual in this company is too senior or too important not to be held accountable for their actions.
Thank you for your support.
