I am the Global Chief Executve Officer of OgilvyAction, the Activation division of Ogilvy & Mather, and I have been with O&M since 2005.
My career actually started on the client side in sales at Smith and Nephew and then what became Carlsberg Tetley. I then made the decision to move to the agency side, joining a Sales Promotion start-up called USP, and became a minority shareholder, before it was sold to Osprey Communications Plc. I became Managing Director of the newly formed CSP, leaving in 1998 to start up Tarantula. Tarantula merged with 141 Worldwide in May 2005 and I was named CEO of the merged operations. I was subsequently appointed CEO OgilvyAction in EAME in 2007. At the end of 2009, I became an inaugural member of the OgilvyAction Global Leadership team, and in April 2010, I was appointed Global CEO for OgilvyAction.
I am based at OgilvyAction's office in London although I spend a lot of time travelling to our many offices worldwide, helping to develop and drive our business growth.
The best part of my role is working with all my OgilvyAction colleagues around the world. Without a doubt we have some of the finest Activation and Shopper talent around. Everyone on our team is different, and helping to create an environment for them to prosper; whether they be Creative, Account Handlers, Strategic or Finance people, is the part of my job I love the best.
In my short career at Ogilvy & Mather my favourite highlight has been my involvement in the team that won the Qualcomm business without a formal pitch, which is now evolving into a multi-million dollar business for OgilvyAction and the group.
I cannot omit, the mention of enormous pride I have in being part of the OgilvyAction leadership team which has started to build an Activation network that I am sure one day will be regarded as the best in the world.
My favourite David Ogilvy quote is "I had a friend who was the King's surgeon in England. One day I asked him what makes a great surgeon. He replied "What distinguishes a great surgeon is his knowledge. He knows more than other surgeons. During an operation he finds something which he wasn't expecting, recognizes it and knows what to do about it."