Havas’ James Wright formally expands remit in wake of Virginia Hyland exit
James Wright
Havas has officially announced media boss Virginia Hyland’s departure, a week after reports emerged that she had taken the holdco’s local media arm to the Federal Court.
Hyland and her lawyers filed a Breach of General Protections claim against Havas Media, alleging a breach of workplace rights. According to the Fair Work Commission, this could refer to alleged adverse actions taken by employers such as dismissal, demotion, or unfair treatment.
The claim was settled outside of court.
Today, Havas has confirmed she “stepped down” following the completion of the buy-out period after it acquired her independent agency, Hyland Media, in 2020. As a result, James Wright, group CEO of Havas Creative Network ANZ, global CEO of Havas Red, and global chair of Havas PR network, has been named group CEO ANZ effective immediately.
Virginia Hyland
This means he is officially bringing media under his remit to take on a local boss role, similarly to Publicis Groupe and Dentsu’s structures under Michael Rebelo and Patricio De Matteis, respectively.
It is also similar to what Omnicom is currently tipped to do, with wide industry speculation that a local management team of a combined Omnicom-IPG advertising giant will be led by Nick Garrett.
Havas Media is still recruiting for Hyland’s direct replacement, with other “future leadership announcements in due course”, according to a media release.
Since taking the helm at Havas Media within a number of months of the acquisition, Hyland has played a pivotal role in shaping the agency team and future-proofing it. Under her leadership, it has welcomed several new clients and retained clients including Red Bull, Perfetti, Uniting, Tourism Fiji, and Retail Food Group. It is shortlisted for next week’s Mumbrella Awards, for Media Agency of the Year.
She also led the launch of Havas Play and CSA (data, tech, and analytics).
“I want to thank Havas for welcoming Hyland Media and our clients into the fold. It’s been a privilege to work alongside so many creative, driven, and talented people across the local and global network. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built together,” Hyland said in the release.
“To my teammates — thank you for believing in our shared vision as a challenger agency to ‘Dare to be Different’. To our valued clients — I wish you continued success as you navigate the exciting future of data, tech, and AI. It has been my personal pleasure to be part of your journey, some for as long as 25 years.”
James Wright
Wright thanked Hyland, wishing her “every success in the future”.
“Going forward we are strongly committed to driving our pioneering integration as a group with many bold ambitions to maximise our talents, technology and data smarts that supercharge our teams and clients’ brands,” he said.
“To support this we have a number of significant investments and moves planned to help us play and win differently as the challenger holdco in market.”
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