The Leading Women of Publicis Bring Important ‘Firsts’ to the Industry

We sat down with honorees Helga Sásdi, CEO of Publicis Groupe Hungary and Publicis Le Pont and Jenn Renoe, director, Partner Direct, at Publicis Health Media for a little chinwag on the industry and more. 

It is always exciting to browse through the amazing names on Ad Age’s Leading Women list, and this year’s no exception. The recent years added two leaders from Publicis Groupe to this elite group, with Helga Sásdi cracking the list for the first time from the CEE region and Jenn Renoe being added as the first openly transgender honoree in 2022. These pioneering women discussed the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) -- no longer existing as a “nice to have” line on the CSR budget, but something that in this day and age can drive and shape business for generations to come. 

Helga Sásdi is an experienced executive in the industry, who left Hungary in 2007, looking for new challenges. She quickly found her footing in New York, becoming a senior account manager for the Dallas-based outfit, imc². Before long, she climbed the corporate ladder once again to assume the role of global client services director for Wunderman World Health in 2013. A few years later, she returned to Budapest to fulfil the role of managing director for Saatchi & Saatchi Budapest, and then later got promoted as the CEO of Publicis Groupe Hungary. A testament to her work ethic as well as endurance is the fact that she’s also the Co-CEO of Publicis Le Pont, the digital hub of the company, that unites Publicis Groupe’s competence centres in Central Eastern Europe. 

“My vision was always to build a mini-New York, so I don’t miss New York that much. In the last six years, I basically did that, and together we have built up a team consisting of 360 people with 35 nationalities. It is a huge bubble within Hungary” said Sásdi, an ardent supporter of diversity and inclusion. This is more than the usual boiler plate DEI-simping: Helga is the chairperson of the Board of Directors of WeAreOpen, Hungary’s market leader DEI organisation, helping companies establish an open, diverse, and inclusive corporate culture. 

“Diversity does deliver clear business value: it pushes down hiring costs, makes recruitment easier while creating an inclusive culture. I am using my experience to really educate C-level professionals, not through activism, but through business” noted this year’s inaugural nominee.

That sentiment is echoed by Jenn Renoe, the first ever openly transgender woman named to Ad Age’s Leading Women list. She recalled her first thoughts after hearing the news that she made the list. 

“When I first heard the news, my initial thought was that we were going to get a lot of backlash from me being on the list. I expected people to say that I was taking a place from other women. But then something magical happened as I saw the outpouring of love and support from the community and from the other leading women and the rest of the sorority has just been phenomenal,” Jenn said. 

She is the living embodiment of how DEI can propel companies to the next level; After being fired from her previous workplace just a few weeks after transitioning, Publicis Groupe jumped at the opportunity to hire her. 

“That's how I ended up finding my way to Publicis Groupe which I'm very grateful for. When I got this opportunity here at Publicis Health Media, I have come to realise I work for patients first. I've worked across pretty much every category you can think of: retail, automotive, airline, quick service restaurants and fine dining. And when you're in all of those places, you sit here and you think, am I fulfilled? We talk a lot about how we're not curing cancer, but now,[working in] pharma, I feel like I am in some way helping to cure what ills many people,” said Jenn. 

Her journey led her to recognise the importance of the DEI work as a part of advertising. As she puts it: “because we can talk about the importance of how you can't be what you can't see. So we in the media, we in advertising, have the true ability to start to destigmatize and create visibility of communities that aren't often seen. And I think that's what makes this so exciting is that we have the ability to truly change hearts and minds with the work we're doing and I think that's why what we do is so important”.

The road is long with many steps ahead, but with the inclusion of these two industry professionals on Ad Age’s Leading Women list, we have just moved a bit closer to our destination. With such examples to look up to, the future just got a bit brighter. 

“We as leaders have the power that we must use to give back. We need to do something because we are the ones who are not afraid of doing it” pointed out Helga Sásdi.