Young to be Ogilvy's new chairman; Shelly Lazarus, chairman emeritus

Shelly Lazarus, chairman, Ogilvy & Mather, has announced that she will step down and move into the role of chairman emeritus, effective 1 July 2012. Miles Young, who is currently the chief executive officer, will succeed her as chairman.

The announcement was made on 4 May 2012 at the company's board meeting in São Paulo, Brazil.

On the eve of the announcement, Miles Young commented, “Shelly Lazarus is an exceptional individual, an outstanding leader and an inspirational evangelist for branding. I remain grateful that Shelly will, going forward, serve as chairman emeritus, and she will still be coming to the office, and will still be contributing to many of our clients' businesses. For 15 years, she has guided the agency of David Ogilvy perfectly to the letter and the spirit of the founder.”

Ogilvy also elected two new directors to its board: Steve Harding, global chief executive officer, OgilvyAction, and Thomas Strerath, chief executive officer, Ogilvy & Mather Germany.

Steve Harding became global chief executive officer of OgilvyAction in 2009, after running the unit in EAME for three years. He joined the agency after the company he founded, Tarantula Activation Communications, was acquired by O&M in 2005.

Thomas Strerath has been chief executive officer, O&M Germany since June 2009. He started his stint at O&M in 2005 as managing director of OgilvyOne Frankfurt, and was named chief executive officer, OgilvyOne Germany, a year later. He came to O&M from B2B agency WOB AG in Vernheim.