Dentsu International Restructures Leadership Ahead of CEO Wendy Clark’s Departure

Dentsu International is planning for the departure of its global chief executive Wendy Clark. Following a report by Campaign that Clark was planning to leave her post, the company released a statement to clarify that it had put together a group globally to plan for the future beyond her leadership. “A cross-functional global team of our executive leaders has been working on our long-term roadmap for Dentsu. We have strong confidence that this will continue our progress in driving growth and making client impact. We expect to communicate more fully as we finalize this planning process,” said the statement. A former Coca-Cola executive, Clark joined the business in 2020 after almost five years of leading Omnicom’s DDB Worldwide in a similar role. A timeline for her departure has not been revealed. A leader through the pandemic During her time as global CEO, charged with driving growth in the business, Clark has guided the company through the Covid-19 pandemic. In June, the business announced it was consolidating its agency brands into Dentsu Creative in order to grow its creative credentials. “Our creative proposition was not where it needed to be and—nor in my opinion—was in keeping with what the market was looking for,” Clark told Adweek of the strategy. “46,000 people come to work every day to create things in the world that will help drive outcomes, create culture, change society and invent the future,” Clark said. “We’ve got to live into that. There was every reason to act and leapfrog into where we saw this going.” Updated: Clark will step down as a director and executive officer of the company on Dec. 31. “It's hard to be prouder of our 46,000+ Dentsu International team members and leadership," commented Clark in a statement. "It's their brilliant thinking, hard work and commitment that has accelerated the opportunity for Dentsu International to now become fully integrated into Dentsu Group and led by One Management Team." From Jan. 1 the company will introduce a "One Management Team" structure which will be led by president and CEO Hiroshi Igarashi as it moves to integrate Dentsu Japan Network and Dentsu International. Igarashi described the transition to the new structure as "an ongoing effort" across the entire group. “I am confident this will accelerate the group’s business growth and further enhance our corporate value. Making this a reality will require the close cooperation of the 67,000 employees across our global team," he added. One Year in as Dentsu CEO, Wendy Clark Explains Why It's Growing Again—and How She'll Keep it That Way