RAPP global CEO Alexei Orlov resigned back in June, replaced as acting chief executive by Marco Scognamiglio in the wake of a lawsuit filed by former U.S. president Greg Andersen that accused Orlov of discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination.
RAPP’s lawyers countered by claiming that the claims in Andersen’s suit were “outrageous,” that his termination was “lawful and appropriate” and that Orlov acted appropriately in his capacity as CEO. In a separate report, we noted that Orlov was reportedly forced to resign from his position as executive vice chairman at Wunderman in 2008 following an internal investigation that verified complaints filed by employees of that company’s Detroit office.
Since resigning from RAPP, Orlov has been keeping busy. In addition to working as an advisor to the global CEO at DAS Group of Companies (itself a division of Omnicom), he recently launched a new blog, offering “Thoughts on the life of business and the business of life” to readers everywhere.
The blog is primarily divided into two sections: “Notes From The Margin” and “My Story.” Under the latter heading, the former RAPP CEO offers readers a series of “Life Lessons.”
In one entry, Orlov writes, “…to my mind, too many of us simply do not have an understanding of how to behave.” In a “Notes From The Margin” post entitled “Tips on Positive Anxiety,” he notes that “Fear is rarely the answer to anything in business.”
The former CEO also opines in “Life Lessons” that “My greatest disappointment is that kindness has fallen away from the term humankind.”
Under “My Story,” there is also a section listing Orlov’s resume of industry experience as well as a series of “Endorsements.” Orlov, who Andersen claims said that he “did not want [his] company filled with people in their forties or fifties,” receives endorsements from industry veterans including Bacardi CEO Michael Dolan, Geometry Global CFO/COO Stefan Himpe and Dr. Bernard Becker, head of new business models marketing at Volkswagen. Endorsements from female leaders for Mr. Orlov, who allegedly declined to promote a woman because she was “too pretty” to be taken seriously, appear limited to two: marketing consultant for social good Sarah Kuehne and Barbara Lamprecht, director of brand and marketing strategy for Volkswagen.
Kuehne writes of Orlov: “Mr. Orlov is a true marketing genius with exceptional creative intelligence — a people’s man who is deeply committed to life itself, demanding of himself and his people to always ‘do what’s right.'”
Orlov does allude to the lawsuit brought against him. In a post called “Think Fast, But Respond Carefully” he writes:
Some of you who know me well are waiting and have been waiting for me to react to certain things that have happened in my life in the last punishing few months. But I have chosen instead to reflect and at the right moment to respond in a way that is both considered, thoughtful and responsible.
Such a choice has not been easy. But I know that the best of anything comes from care and comes from righteousness.
The suit in question is still making its way through the Los Angeles court system. One source tells us that it will probably be settled without a trial.