Y&R Advertising global chief executive Hamish McLennan is to return to Australia and will be replaced by David Sable, the vice chairman and chief operating officer of Y&R's sister company, Wunderman.
McLennan, who has led the agency for the past five years, will continue as chairman of Y&R Advertising until the end of the year. Sable will then take on thte global CEO role, while retaining his existing job and continuing to lead Team Microsoft across WPP.
"This hasn't been an easy decision for me and my family to make but in the end it became so,” McLennan said.
“I'm very pleased that I shall be continuing to contribute to Y&R worldwide - a company I've spent nine years with - and I can think of no more qualified candidate to take over as CEO than David, a close friend and colleague for whom I have the highest regard, both personally and professionally."
Head over to McIntyre Rants to get the lowdown on the reasons behind McLennan's move.
Young & Rubicam Brands CEO Peter Stringham said: “We are very indebted to Hamish for all he has done to set the agency on a strong course of growth, with a record performance in 2008 and its second-best performance ever in 2010. On his watch, Y&R won such clients as Goldman Sachs and LG, added global Danone Waters and consolidated others like Bacardi and Virgin Atlantic.”
McLennan was the youngest person to be appointed to the role and the first CEO from the Asia-Pacific region. He started his career at George Patterson Bates and later managed the merger which created George Patterson Y&R.
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