Andrew Robertson has served as president and CEO of BBDO Worldwide since May 2004. On October 1, he will become chairman and Nancy Reyes will succeed him as president and CEO of BBDO Worldwide.
Nancy Reyes, who joined BBDO in October of last year, is currently the CEO of the Americas and previously CEO of TBWA\Chiat\Day LA. She is also Board Chair of Creative Ladder, the A non-profit co-founded by Ryan Reynolds to make creative careers more accessible. In 2018, she founded a program called Circle of Women which provides executive coaching to women on the cusp of leadership to build a pipeline of future female leaders—and more than half of the participants are women of colour. She was a founding member of Times UP and is also on the board of the Ad Council and Prep for Prep, a US organisation to develop future leaders by creating access for young people of colour. Reyes is an alumnus of Prep for Prep.
Riobertson was inducted to the AAF Hall of Fame in 2022 and has been named one of The 100 Most Influential Leaders in Marketing, Media and Tech, alongside Mark Zuckerburg, Tim Cook and Jeff Bezos. Under his leadership, BBDO has been recognised as one of the most consistently creative and effective agencies in the world. It was named Network of the Year at Cannes Lions a record-setting seven times and, in 2020, the first-ever Network of the Decade. Since 2005, BBDO has also been named Global Agency of the Year in Ad Age, Adweek and Campaign, was named Best of the Best by the World Advertising Research Center. It has been recognised as the Most Effective Network in the world five times by the Global Effie Index and was named Pacific Network of the year at Cannes Lions this year.
“When Nancy joined last year as CEO of The Americas, I’m sure it was clear to all what the plan was,” Robertson stated. “In the time since, she has proven to be exactly what I expected – a decisive and fast-acting leader with a clear point of view on where we need to go as a network, resilience, a sense of humour, and a relentless drive to bring great work to our clients that drives their businesses. Nancy has made this decision very easy for me.”
Reyes commented, “I recognise I have some big shoes to fill. Andrew’s career and legacy is unparalleled – I am lucky he will be around to provide guidance and support to our clients, our teams and me. I am excited to have the opportunity to bring the beautiful community of BBDO together to design where we go from here. This is a fantastic agency with a very long runway ahead.”
“We have been extremely lucky to have an industry titan at the helm of BBDO for over two decades,” added John Wren, chairman and CEO of Omnicom. “Andrew’s passion for the business was felt by his people and clients alike, always hands on to ensure the network maintained its industry leading standards of creativity. We are grateful he will continue to guide the network in his new role as chairman and are excited for Nancy to take the reins as CEO as she propels BBDO into the future.”
