SS+K Names New CEO Nadja Bellan-White

Award-winning agency SS+K, which combines the rigour of political strategy with the power of breakthrough creativity, announced today that Nadja Bellan-White, global CMO of Vice Media Group, and longtime top marketing executive across brands and agencies worldwide, has been named CEO. 

SS+K has built brand and social impact campaigns for clients like JPMorgan Chase and Business Iceland, and served as youth agency of record for president Obama in both of his White House bids. Nadja, who will officially take over as CEO on January 16, has over two decades of global experience in marketing, communications and digital transformation across the U.S, EMEA, LatAm and APAC markets. 

She joins a seasoned leadership team along with partners and founders Rob Shepardson, Lenny Stern, and Mark Kaminsky.

“Never has our credo of ‘think politically, act creatively,’ been more important for brands, and indeed all organisations, than it is right now, with a marketplace defined by relentless cultural and political change and volatility,” said Rob, Lenny and Mark. “Nadja possesses the perfect set of skills, and the ideal outlook, to guide our clients to successfully navigate this new and shifting landscape. With fierce dedication and a strong point of view, Nadja has spent her career helping brands reinvent themselves and come out ahead in difficult circumstances. Her extensive experience in digital innovation, AI, media and integrated marketing is the right fit at the right moment. ”

“I am so thrilled to join this pioneering agency, which has had a profound impact on people’s lives in ways that I care about and will continue to carry forward,” said Nadja. “SS+K has been doing for decades what many brands never even realised they needed - communicating with speed, impact and a strong voice. We can help make real change in the world, which has been my focus for my entire career.”

“As someone who has been a client of SS+K's and helped serve as a mentor to Nadja, I believe her appointment will create tremendous value for clients and help propel the agency forward,” said David Kenny, executive chairman, Nielsen. “Nadja is just what you want in a leader — astute, principled, effective — and SS+K is just what you want in an agency — results-oriented and wildly creative, especially when the world's in constant flux, as it is today.”

“With her impressive experience and talents, Nadja has what it takes to build on the success of M&C Saatchi in the U.S. through SS+K's unique ability to help marketers and other organisations communicate to people successfully during these extremely unpredictable times,” said M&C Saatchi executive chair Zillah Byng-Thorne. 

Nadja was most recently global CMO of VICE Media Group, where she oversaw enterprise brand strategy. Previously, she was Executive Partner and WPP Team Leader for Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, where she led the brand transformation for Unilever across beauty and personal care, focusing specifically on Dove, and led behaviour change for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation globally. She also led brand work for American Express, LG Electronics, IKEA North America, Coca-Cola, Siemens and Safaricom/Vodafone. In 2014, she was promoted to CEO of Ogilvy Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, where she managed business across the continent.