After the announcement of Annette Male’s imminent depature from Wunderman Thompson, the agency has revealed it is eliminating its APAC and EMEA regional leadership positions in favour of one chief executive of International. Ewen Sturgeon, the current CEO of EMEA, takes up the new role with immediate effect. Sturgeon has been leading the EMEA region since May 2019, and now takes on additional oversight of APAC, which comprises 27 offices in 17 countries.
It is not the first time Sturgeon has had oversight of two regions –prior to joining Wunderman Thompson he was chief operating officer of Publicis.Sapient for EMEA and APAC. Before that, he was International CEO of Digitas for four years, where he was closely involved in launching and growing the agency’s business across EMEA and APAC.
Wunderman Thompson said its EMEA and APAC regions will remain structurally and operationally separate, with leaders for each business unit reporting directly into Sturgeon.
On taking up the new role, Sturgeon said, “I’m excited about the scope of this new role, which will allow me to partner with our many talented leaders across APAC to create flexible and empathetic solutions that will continue adding value to our clients in the region.”
APAC CEO Male is departing the agency after two and a half years to lead Facebook’s agency development team in APAC, which she will begin in October. Global CEO Mel Edwards commented on Male’s imminent departure, “I’d like to thank Annette for the huge impact she’s had on Wunderman Thompson’s business, culture and clients. Annette leaves Wunderman Thompson APAC better than she found it and we wish her the very best of luck in her next challenge.”
Ewen Sturgeon is CEO/agency founder with a track record of delivering growth and commercial success in the digital/innovation space. He founded Wheel (Pres.co) 1992, which became one of the UK’s leading Digital Agencies. Sold Wheel to LBI in 2005. Sold LBi to Publicis Group in 2013 and integrated Digitas to create DigitasLBi. Sturgeon started off his career journey in 1992 with the foundation of Pres.co and Wheel. Later he moved to Publicis.Sapient as CEO Digitas International and COO P.S International.
About Wunderman Thompson
Wunderman Thompson is a New York -based global marketing communications agency with 200 offices in 90 markets. It is part of international advertising group WPP Group. Wunderman Thompson was formed in 2018, when parent WPP merged agencies J. Walter Thompson and Wunderman. In 2018, WPP merged Wunderman with J. Walter Thompson Co., and in the first quarter of 2019, unveiled its new identity as Wunderman Thompson. Wunderman CEO Mel Edwards was named Global CEO of the new entity. In March 2019, WPP merged its agencies POSSIBLE and Cole & Weber with Wunderman Thompson. In December 2020, the agency launched a global brand study called “Inspiring Growth”, which ranked the most inspiring brands in the world.
Website for reference- http://wundermanthompson.com/
