Industry veteran Dan Ng has joined Johannes Leonardo as the agency’s new chief strategy officer effective. In his new role, Ng will lead the agency’s strategy practice and oversee its roster of brands, including Volkswagen, Adidas, Uber, Instagram and Kraft Heinz.
Ng most recently worked with Uncommon, but previously held strategy roles with Grey, Wieden+Kennedy, Droga5, Anomaly, BBDO and Ogilvy, among others. He joins Johannes Leonardo with over two decades’ experience leading strategy teams and building brands. He has headed up strategy departments at creative agencies in London, New York, and Tokyo and led global agency teams for IBM and HP.
“Joining JL really does feel like coming home. Strategy and creativity have always been two voices in dialogue here,” said Ng in a statement. “It means that strategic planning doesn’t stop at just being smart. It also needs to be inspiring and confident, to hold up its end of the conversation. I’ve always believed that great strategy and great creativity aren’t that far apart, and the work coming out of JL proves just that.”
Ng’s strategy work has been recognized at the IPA Effectiveness Awards and the Effie Awards with the resulting creative work being recognized at Cannes and D&AD.
Before joining the marketing industry, Ng spent several years working in a microbiology research lab, where he met his wife.
“We have a growing team of top practitioners, with smarts, inspiration, and confidence. And we’re working with iconic brands making bold moves in the market. I’m lucky to be joining at this moment in the story of JL,” added Ng.
Ng is the latest piece of the C-suite puzzle to click into place at JL. The agency promoted longtime employee Emily Wilcox to CEO and added John McCarthy, a boomerang employee, to be the agency’s first CMO in 2023. It also added Tasha Cronin as its new head of production and eliminated the CCO role after Julia Neumann resigned and went to Le Truc. In addition, Jonathan Santana was promoted from group creative director to executive creative director.
Ng takes over the CSO role from Steve Zaroff, who left the agency in November.
“Dan’s someone we’ve always admired as one of the most generous, most creative strategic minds in our business. We’re so fortunate to have his intelligence and imagination driving our clients’ businesses forward,” said Wilcox in a statement.