M&C Saatchi names Richard Thompson as UK chair, Tim Duffy global strategy director

M&C Saatchi has promoted Richard Thompson, the boss of its talent division, to be UK group chairman, replacing long-serving Tim Duffy, who becomes group strategy director worldwide.

They are the most significant appointments made by Moray MacLennan since he stepped up to become global chief executive in January, after the three founding partners, David Kershaw, Jeremy Sinclair and Bill Muirhead, stepped down following 26 years as executive directors.

MacLennan is promising “a change agenda”, in the wake of an accounting crisis that lasted nearly 18 months, and has recently appointed the group’s first chief people officer and a new general counsel to improve governance.

MacLennan and Duffy have worked together for 35 years – first at Saatchi & Saatchi and then at M&C Saatchi since its foundation in 1995. Duffy has led much of its government work, such as the Change4Life campaign.

Thompson is a serial entrepreneur, who joined in 2013 when he sold his talent agency, Merlin Elite, to the group. He has also chaired several media businesses for private equity owners and is chair of Surrey County Cricket Club.

MacLennan said: “Tim is a brilliant strategist and I want to use him single-mindedly, globally and in the UK. If you were to ask Tim what excites him most, it’s solving clients’ problems, and I thought let’s give him a bigger stage – that’s why he’s moving from the UK to worldwide.”

Duffy said: “I look forward to moving into a global role as our new strategy accelerates over the coming years.” 

MacLennan added Thompson is a “brilliant leader” with a “commercial” reputation and “his outside-of-advertising experience is useful in being a good chair” and ensuring business discipline.

More cross-selling in the UK

M&C Saatchi’s UK operation has upwards of 700 people and 14 subsidiaries, including the flagship ad agency M&C Saatchi London, performance shop M&C Saatchi Performance, PR outfit M&C Saatchi Talk and talent arm M&C Saatchi Merlin.

Thompson said there is an opportunity to get different agencies working more closely and to cross-sell services – a strategy that fits with MacLennan’s mantra of offering “Meaningful Change” to clients.

“The M&C Saatchi Group is a unique collection of world-class companies that span the entire communications landscape,” Thompson said. 

“They are exceptional apart, and when combined can be even more powerful in delivering ‘Meaningful Change’ for existing and new clients. I look forward to helping deliver our compelling proposition, with our outstanding talent.”