IPG’s Lowe and Parthers has poached Havas high-flyer Naomi Troni (left) to be its first global chief growth officer – head of new business, in other words.
Troni has spent ten years at Havas in key roles across Europe, the USA and Asia. Her most recent job was CEO of Havas Worldwide in Southeast Asia, based in Singapore and overseeing operations there plus Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Before that she was global CMO based in New York.
Lowe global CEO Michael Wall says: “Naomi is a first-class talent and I am thrilled that she is joining the Lowe and Partners team. She gets our collaborative model and our vision of building a contemporary and creatively differentiated network for our clients. Her leadership skills, world view, management and marketing expertise and relentless drive make her the obvious choice to take on the essential task of further growing our business globally.
“The creation of this new role reflects the forward momentum of our network, with the recent launch of Lowe Profero and the growth of Lowe Campbell Ewald in the US, while in January; we also launched a new agency in Barcelona. We have a lot in the pipeline in 2014 so Naomi’s appointment is perfectly timed.”
There does indeed seem to be a lot going on at Lowe, which appears to be finally settling down under CEO Wall and chairman Tony Wright after a number of disastrous management appointments. A thriving Lowe is vital for IPG as it battles to maintain its status as a ‘Big Four’ holding company.
As for Havas, Troni’s is the latest in a number of key departures following the surprise exit of CEO David Jones. The company is now effectively managed as well as owned by the Bollore family, with Vincent Bollore’s son Yannick taking over from the popular Jones.
