- Andrew McMains

NEW YORK With last week's hiring of BBDO's Tom Sebok as North American president and CEO of Young & Rubicam, worldwide CEO Hamish McLennan feels he has the leadership team needed to drive the WPP Group network forward.

Sebok, who starts May 1, will join a top management team that includes McLennan and worldwide creative director Tony Granger, who also starts May 1 (nearly six months after he resigned from Saatchi & Saatchi here). Y&R, whose U.S. revenue grew an estimated 7 percent in 2007 after two flat years, is looking to build on that momentum in part through the infusion of new blood.

In Sebok, McLennan sees a "great team builder" with "high standards" and a passion for great creative work, borne of his 13 years -- over two tours -- at BBDO. As for his priorities at Y&R, McLennan said: "There's obviously a huge client-facing role. New business is important to the group . . . and we want to get a consistently high delivery from all of our offices. He added: "There's a lot to do and what I said to Tom too is we really need to treat all of our offices in North America as one large resource, to help pull them together to ensure there's a consistent output from all of them."

As head of North America, Sebok, who most recently was a managing director at BBDO here, will oversee about 1,800 staffers across six offices, including New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto and Irvine, Calif.

The Newton, Mass., native has never run an office before, let alone a region, but as a major account leader, he has regularly worked across geographies, offices and disciplines. His client experience includes Lowe's, Frito-Lay, UPS, Campbell's Soup, Motorola and PepsiCo International.

Past and present colleagues described Sebok, a competitive sailboat racer with a degree in English and American literature, as collaborative, business minded, likeable and engaging as well as smart and serious. "He's got spine. He's strong," said BBDO worldwide CEO Andrew Robertson. "He's a smart guy. I can't think of a client who didn't like him."

The 44-year-old father of three said he tries to add value to everything he does and feeds on advertising's collaborative spirit. "It's fundamentally a people business and humanity, decency and care for others are critical," said Sebok. "I don't think the only way to succeed in business is to be a jerk."