The Boston Ad Club Appoints Arnold CEO George Sargent as New Chairman of the Board

The Ad Club, the trade association for the New England marketing & communications industry, announced today the appointment of George Sargent as its new chairman of the board. Sargent is CEO of Boston-based advertising agency Arnold, a Havas Creative Group Company. He will replace Andrew Graff, CEO of Allen & Gerritsen, and Barbara Goose, CMO of Rocket Software. 

As Board Chair, Sargent will work closely with Ad Club President and CEO, Barb Reilly to support the organisation’s community efforts, and ensure that it has a meaningful and positive impact on the brands, businesses, teams, and people it serves in the region. 

“At a time of high complexity in the marketing ecosystem, I couldn’t think of a person with better experience and understanding of how all the pieces need to work together than George,” said Reilly. “From tech to media and now leading Arnold, he has been an engaged member of the marketing industry in Greater Boston his entire career, and I am thankful for his personal commitment to the work that we are doing at the Ad Club. His perspective and support will be invaluable as we move forward into this new chapter with our members.”

Since stepping into the role 16 months ago, Reilly has more than doubled membership and recharged the strategic vision for the organization, focusing on leveraging the power of community to elevate, fuel and expand the Ad Club’s impact and continue its long legacy of serving the Boston marketing community. Sargent will support Reilly’s efforts to drive continued growth and impact for the Ad Club with the goal of increasing membership by an additional 50% in the next year. 

Commenting on his new role, Sargent said: “Barb has done a tremendous job since she stepped into this role last year. I am thrilled to partner with her and the Ad Club team to help accelerate their efforts and work in partnership with an incredible and diverse board of marketing industry leaders from across our region. I also want to thank Andrew Graff and Barbara Goose for everything they have done over the past decade to support the Ad Club’s mission.”

Sargent has over a decade of experience working across Havas’ Creative & Media Networks leading transformation and growth for top brands including Progressive Insurance, PNC Bank, Sam’s Club, ADP, CDC Office for Smoking and Health, Fidelity, Eastern Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, McDonald’s, Goodyear, Acushnet and many more. His career has spanned ad tech, publishing, media, and creative agencies, allowing him to see the marketing and media landscape – and the opportunities for brands within it – from all angles.

He joined Havas in 2013 and in 2016 was promoted to President of Havas Media Boston. In 2019, he was named CEO of Arnold. Since then, Arnold has grown tremendously by building on its longstanding history of business driving creativity, attracting brands across highly sought-after categories including retail, financial services, and telco.

Arnold has also been a longstanding member and proud partner of the Ad Club. The Rosoff Equity Project was inspired by the passion and conviction of Arnold founder Arnold Rosoff. His vision was for the city of Boston and the advertising industry within it to be more inclusive.

The Ad Club’s membership represents best-in-class advertising agencies, media companies, and brands in the New England region. Brands include Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA, Citizens, CVS Health, Dunkin, Eastern Bank, Fidelity, Toast and John Hancock, to name a few; and agencies such as Arnold, Havas Media, Hill Holliday, MullenLowe, and Digitas.

Sargent continued: “Community has never been more important. And the Ad Club exists to support, connect, celebrate and accelerate the marketing industry and our Members. Our strength – and point of difference – from the national trade associations is that we are local and serve everyone in our region. That means we are focused on tackling issues that are directly impacting the Boston community’s people, teams, organizations, brands. I can’t wait to get started.”