TBWA\Media Arts Lab poached Katrien De Bauw from Saatchi & Saatchi to serve as regional managing director of its London office, beginning in October, Campaign reports. Saatchi & Saatchi told the publication it is currently looking for a candidate to replace her. At TBWA\MAL, she will replace Tom Hares, who left in March to found a startup.
In her new role, De Bauw will be responsible for overseeing the office’s day to day operations and leading the office’s senior management team while reporting to L.A.-based executive director of international Mike Litwin.
De Bauw has served as chief operating officer for Saatchi & Saatchi London for the past three and a half years. Before joining Saatchi & Saatchi she spent over seven year as managing director with Fallon London. Prior to that she spent nearly four and a half years with TBWA London as an account director, following two and a half years as an account executive with Lowe and Partners in Brussels.
“Katrien has always been a brilliant leader at Saatchi & Saatchi London,” Saatchi & Saatchi U.K. CEO Magnus Djaba told Campaign. “But the thing with brilliant leaders is that eventually, they need their own business to run. We’ll miss her, but we also couldn’t be happier for her.”
“Leaving the Saatchi family has been one of the hardest decisions, but this is an extremely exciting time to join TBWA\Media Arts Lab,” De Bauw added. “The opportunity to work on a brand as high profile and iconic as Apple and be at the forefront of the next generation of Apple advertising is simply too good to pass up.”