Worldwide chairman of M&C Saatchi Tom Dery to relocate to Boston
Worldwide chairman of M&C Saatchi Tom Dery is set to depart Australia for the US next year where he will take up a place as a fellow of the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University.
Speculation has been growing Dery, who will continue as worldwide chairman for the agency, and his partner Tom McFarlane would take more of a back seat in the running of the Australian operation following the appointment last year of CEO Jaimes Leggett.
In a statement today Dery said: “Nothing changes too much really, I will fulfil my role with M&C Saatchi from a different part of the world, with the exciting challenge of the Harvard opportunity thrown in.”
According to a report in the Australian Financial Review today Dery and McFarlane have swapped their equity stakes in the local agency for a similar stake in the listed global network, with plans for local management to pick up their stake in Australia.
Good Luck Tom – be great to spend time with your son over there too… Timing is everything. Now you just need to get Melbourne back on the map… too many great agencies left to languish in Melbourne by their Global heads.