R/GA New York has promoted Anthony Romano to the position of SVP, client services for its U.S. operations. He begins the newly-created role effective immediately.
Romano now joins recently returned U.S. president Sean Lyons and the managing directors of the agency’s American offices in overseeing its larger client services practice and assisting with management and retention of client relationships. He reports directly to founder/chairman/CEO Bob Greenberg.
Romano joined the agency almost exactly one year ago as SVP/group managing director, and he brings more than 20 years’ marketing experience on both the client and agency sides to the CS role.
Regarding the promotion, Greenberg himself says, “Since his arrival at R/GA last year, Anthony has proven himself to be an incredible partner to our clients and I am very excited that he has agreed to apply his considerable talent to this important regional role.” He adds, “With his experience as a marketing client and leading client service teams at some of the industry’s best agencies, Anthony is perfectly suited to help us evolve the client services discipline for the connected age.”
The agencies Greenberg mentioned include Ogilvy, CMG, Arnold and Carmichael Lynch, where Romano held various management positions (and directed Arnold’s digital practice in New York) earlier in his career. On the client side, he led loyalty marketing at BMG/Columbia House and directed digital marketing for The Gap’s now-defunct women’s brand Forth & Towne before joining Ralph Lauren as its VP/MD of interactive and emerging media.
Romano then spent three years as EVP and worldwide group account director at Publicis Groupe in New York before jumping to AOL, where he held the global head of agency development position and focused exclusively on strategic engagements between the media brand and his former employer Publicis (which was AOL’s largest global network partner).
Since joining R/GA last year, Romano has overseen client relationships and creative projects for accounts including Samsung, TD Bank, Braun, Loews Hotels, Coca-Cola and Converse. Other brands he’s worked with over his career include Porsche, Harley-Davidson, Hershey’s, Nestlé, Volvo, General Mills, Chase and Citibank.
The newly-appointed SVP says, “I’m grateful and excited to take on this new role. Clients come to R/GA for best-in-class creative and tech innovation. As the work we do for them gets even more diverse, it requires from us a level of business partnership that is unmatched in our industry. I look forward to playing a role in shaping that for R/GA.”