Publicis Groupe UK chief executive Annette King has been selected as the new chair of the Advertising Association.
The ‘big six’ agency chief will join the association’s board and work with the Advertising Association chief executive, Stephen Woodford, and its president, Alessandra Bellini.
King will also replace the chief executive of PHD Worldwide, who leaves after working for the organisation for three years.
“Annette is one of the most impressive voices in UK advertising today and we are delighted to welcome her to the AA’s distinguished Board. She brings vast experience and strong work on creating a more inclusive workplace, an area especially relevant to us as we launch the next three actions of the All In Action Plan as well as announce our first wave of All In Champion organisations,” Advertising Association CEO Stephen Woodford said.
“Thanks must also go to Philippa Brown for her excellent work steering the industry through the pandemic and its extraordinary recovery. I look forward to working closely with Annette, alongside our President, Alessandra Bellini, the AA Council and Board as we work hard to tackle the challenges faced by our industry, from climate change to the talent crisis.”
READ MORE: Omnicom selects new chief data privacy officer to adopt ‘privacy first’ approach
King became CEO of Publicis Groupe UK in 2018 ‘revitalising’ the company after her four year tenure. She also helped streamline the structure and bring in new capabilities and expertise and accelerating growth.
She added: “The AA is an impressive organisation with an agenda to drive change. The work the AA is doing on diversity and inclusion and climate change, and in other important areas, is very close to my heart and something I’m committed to accelerating. It’s an honour for me to represent the industry that I love, and to help ensure we continue to grow our influence and salience.”
Her role as Chair will be to revamp strategic direction and the delivery of the association’s work, reporting to its 14 member board on behalf of its ‘tri-partite’ industry membership.
Advertising Association outgoing chair and PHD Worldwide CEO, Philippa Brown, said: “The work of the association is central to the future health and prosperity of our industry and, as importantly, the value of the economic and social contribution, that it can make to all our lives.”
Click here to sign up to Marketing Beat’s free daily email newsletter
