Media agency star Aimee Buchanan is the new CEO of WPP's GroupM for Australia and New Zealand.
The current CEO of Omnicom's OMD will join GroupM in October to lead a network of agencies including Mindshare, MediaCom, Wavemaker, Essence, Neo and m/SIX and specialty media businesses including Finecast, Xaxis and Sightline.
"It is with a heavy heart that I leave my OMD friends and family," she says.
The first woman in the role replaces Mark Lollback, who led the business from 2016 to March this year.
Peter Horgan, CEO Omnicom Media Group, will be covering OMD chief executive duties until a replacement for Buchanan is found.
Buchanan, who has been CEO of OMD since 2016, has grown OMD to become the largest media agency in Australia.
"I have loved every step of the journey with this team and I am proud of what we have built and achieved together," she says.
"A big thank you to all of the OMDers across the nation, our clients and partners for all their support over the last 10 years."
She has been a leading voice shaping the Australian media landscape and driving progress around brand responsibility and diversity and inclusion.
Buchanan sits on both the Media Federation of Australia (MFA) and social purpose organisation UnLtd boards.
"I am excited to take on the new role at GroupM and believe they are uniquely placed to influence how media drives growth for clients’ businesses and shapes society," she says.
"I look forward to working alongside the GroupM leadership and the broader team to set GroupM up for a bright future."
Under her leadership OMD has been recognised across the industry’s top agency and culture awards, including include AdNews Agency of the Year.
Ashutosh Srivastava, GroupM APAC CEO and acting CEO GroupM Australia: “Aimee is an exceptional agency leader with a phenomenal track record and an intimate knowledge of what clients need, and how agencies and their people thrive. She is a truly visionary leader, whose priorities and integrity align with ours. She is client obsessed and always puts her people and culture first.
“GroupM’s purpose is to harness intelligence and imagination to create, integrate and scale breakthrough ideas that help businesses leap forward. Aimee is the perfect person to lead GroupM’s ambitious program of change, enable our agencies to succeed and enhance their capabilities to meet current and future client needs and drive faster growth in the business.”
Peter Horgan at OMG: “Aimee has made an incredible contribution to OMD in her time with the business. She has been a big part of the successful position the agency is in today, and for that we thank her immensely. We wish Aimee well in her new challenge.
“We are confident that we have the talent and structures in place for the continued success of OMD and our clients. The executive team and leadership across all offices is strong and we look forward to the next chapter.”
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