JWT Hires 2 Key Planners

NEW YORK JWT has hired a top strategic planner for its London office and named Bartle Bogle Hegarty’s Pete Heskett to the new position of Southeast Asia planning director.

Heskett, 36, will be based in Singapore and report to JWT worldwide planning director Guy Murphy — who also joined JWT from BBH, in 2006 — and worldwide president Michael Maedel. He starts June 23.

JWT London’s new head of planning is Tony Quinn, formerly head of planning and a managing partner at independent Leagas Delaney in London. Quinn, 41, will start at JWT in early July.

At WPP Group’s JWT, he will join a top management team that includes CEO Alison Burns, to whom he’ll report, and executive creative director Russell Ramsey. Quinn also will report to Murphy.

Quinn spent five years at Leagas Delaney. Before that, he worked on the client side in marketing positions at Bacardi, Johnson & Johnson and Coca-Cola. At JWT, he fills a vacancy left by the September 2007 exit of Hugh Duthie.

“This is a crucial appointment for us,” said Burns, in a statement. “Tony is a fantastic planner who will make the department and agency stronger.”

Heskett spent nearly three years at Publicis Groupe-backed BBH, where he was head of strategic planning for the agency’s Shanghai office. Earlier in his career, he was a senior planner at CDD in London.

Murphy described Heskett as a “tremendous team player and an inspirational leader.” He’ll be based in Singapore and work closely with Guan Hin Tay, JWT’s ecd for Southeast Asia.