Dentsu Reveals New Leadership Structure and Russian Ops Sale

While announcing a new global management structure made up of existing senior leadership to service under president and chief executive Hiroshi Igarashi, agency network Dentsu has also revealed the conclusion of the sale of its joint venture in Russia to its local partners. From around Jan. 1, the company aims to integrate Dentsu International and Dentsu Japan Network into a single organization, which will see the departure of global CEO Wendy Clark, with the whole business falling under the stewardship of Igarashi. The decision was taken to “strengthen the voice of the client in all strategy discussions” and to create a simplified structure that “will allow the business to foster agile decision-making, strategic focus and clarity across the group whilst driving operational excellence across all functions,” according to a company statement. That new structure will include a 36-strong management committee and a 21-person group executive committee. The management team will be responsible for governing Dentsu’s four business regions worldwide. Following Wendy Clark's Departure, What's Next for Dentsu? The leadership team will include Arinobu Soga as evp and chief governance officer; Haruhiko Hirate as evp and chief corporate affairs officer; Nick Priday as chief financial officer; Soichi Takahashi as chief strategy and chief integration officer; Miho Tanimoto as chief HR officer; and Jean Lin taking on the role of chief culture officer. Other appointments include Jeremy Miller joining from IPG's McCann as chief communications officer; Dominic Shine as chief information officer; Alison Zoellner as general counsel; and Masaya Nakamura as chief integrated solutions office. A suite of chief executives has also been appointed, including Takeshi Sano, who has become CEO of Business Transformation; Jacki Kelley, who is CEO of Dentsu Americas and chief global client officer; Norihiro Kuretani, who has been made CEO of Dentsu Japan; Giulio Malegori, who is CEO of Dentsu EMEA; and Rob Gilby as CEO of Dentsu APAC. Meanwhile, Michael Komasinski becomes CEO, CXM, international markets; Peter Huijboom will become CEO of Media, International Markets; Fred Levron will be global chief creative officer outside of Japan; and Yoshimasa Watahiki will be chief operating officer for Japan while Nnenna Ilomechina becomes chief operating officer for International Markets. “We have formed a global Group Management Team to further contribute to our clients' business growth and the realization of a better society by strengthening our Integrated Growth Solutions and to enhance our corporate value,” said Igarashi. WPP Will Cease Operations in Russia Following Invasion of Ukraine He added that the 65,000-strong employee base will be united across the countries and regions where Dentsu operated under the new structure to drive business growth and improve profitability. “Through this renewal of our management structure, we will not only achieve the goals of our medium-term management plan, which concludes in FY2024 but also increase the certainty of long-term, sustainable growth beyond that date. At the same time, we will contribute to the betterment of our customers, partners, employees, consumers and society as a whole,” he added. Meanwhile, almost nine months after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, the business has concluded its review of its business within Russia, which began during the first quarter. In August, it reached “a broad agreement” to sell its equity to local partners who will operate independently, subject to Russian state authority approval.