Troy Ruhanen has been appointed president and CEO of TBWA Worldwide, succeeding Tom Carroll who will continue as chairman of TBWA Group. Jean-Marie Dru will keep on serving as chairman, TBWA Agency Network.
Ruhanen joins TBWA from parent company, Omnicom Group, where he was responsible for driving cross-agency collaboration for Omnicom’s largest clients. Prior to this, Ruhanen held multiple senior management positions at Omnicom Group agencies, including Chairman and CEO, the Americas, BBDO Worldwide. In that role, he managed BBDO’s operations in North and South America including the Proximity direct, digital and CRM agency network. Previous posts at BBDO include deputy chairman, North America and managing director, New York.
Omnicom Group president and CEO John Wren said, “At Omnicom, we place considerable emphasis on succession planning, and Tom [Carroll] and I have long agreed that Troy Ruhanen would be the right person to take the helm of TBWA. His experience in leading Omnicom agencies across geographies and categories makes this a seamless leadership transition.”
Carroll commented, “Troy and I have worked closely across a number of initiatives this past year and he’s the perfect person to take us to the next level.”
“The opportunity to lead TBWA is a great honor because of the deep rooted creative culture and its unique strategic method in ‘Disruption.’ The willingness to break from convention and the expectation for fresh thinking creates an environment for bolder and more innovative platforms,” stated Ruhanen. “This attracts talent, unlike others, and produces work that creates a competitive advantage.”
