Patou Nuytemans announced as Ogilvy CEO for EMEA

Sara Nelson

September 29, 2021

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Patou Nuytemans announced as Ogilvy CEO for EMEA

Nuytemans joined Ogilvy in Belgium in 1993.

Patou Nuytemans will be based in Brussels

Ogilvy has announced the appointment of Patou Nuytemans as chief executive officer of Ogilvy EMEA.

Most recently global chief growth officer at the WPP agency, Nuytemans will be responsible for driving all aspects of Ogilvy’s business across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, spanning public relations, growth and innovation, advertising, health, and experience.

She succeeds Paul O’Donnell, who will continue to serve as chairman of EMEA and will partner closely with her.

Andy Main, global CEO of Ogilvy, said: “Anyone who has had the chance to work with Patou will tell you that she not only fosters a culture of creative, strategic and operational excellence, but also leads with empathy and compassion.

"Throughout her career, she has demonstrated how Ogilvy can drive business-changing, life-changing impact when we create and innovate at the intersection of our world-class capabilities and talent. I could not think of a more qualified leader to drive growth for our clients in the region, nor a better partner to our global leadership team as we take Ogilvy into the future."

Commenting on her predecessor, Main said he was "very grateful that we will continue to benefit from Paul’s leadership, experience, and expertise in his continued capacity as EMEA Chairman. His contributions to Ogilvy over his 30 years with the company are far-reaching.”

Nuytemans added: “I couldn’t be more excited about taking up this next challenge with the agency that I grew up in and love, especially at this time.

"While the last 18 months have been difficult in so many ways for so many people, it has also been a period of incredible transformation, digital innovation and focus on what matters. There is hence so much opportunity to accelerate not only how we bring our talent together across our network in a future-fit, diverse and inspiring work environment, but also how we adopt new, powerful skills to make and deliver ideas."

She added that she looked foward to "working closely with everyone from Cape Town to Stockholm and beyond".

O’Donnell described Nuytemans as a "truly modern, inspirational leader, who has a proven track record of building and developing high-performing teams, while championing the power of creativity", adding that he was "looking forward to continuing to partner with her to drive growth for our people and clients across EMEA".

Since joining Ogilvy in Belgium in 1993, Nuytemans has risen through the ranks of Ogilvy, taking on management roles of increasing responsibility. She has worked on three continents across a broad range of disciplines, categories, and clients.

Before becoming global chief growth officer for Ogilvy in January, Nuytemans served as CEO of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region for four years, where she grew Memac Ogilvy financially, operationally and reputationally – transforming a network of 11 agencies into an integrated, efficient, modern marketing agency.

Prior to that, she combined her role of EMEA chief digital officer with that of CEO of Ogilvy & Social Lab Brussels, overseeing the network rollout.

As chief digital officer, a role she had for over 15 years, she was overseen numerous digital transformation projects for brands, including British Airways, IBM, IKEA, Nespresso, Nestlé, Philips, Unilever and Vodafone.

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