Following former managing director Mark Jarrett’s elevation to the CEO position two months ago, PHD has promoted Lucy Formosa Morgan and Stuart Bailey to jointly replace him in the role of MD.
The splitting of the role will involve Formosa Morgan being responsible for driving new growth and championing best practice, while Bailey will be charged with evolving the agency’s integrated capabilities and continuing to provide advice to clients. Mumbrella understands neither Formosa Morgan’s chief investment and commercial officer role nor Bailey’s chief digital officer role will be replaced, with the heads of those teams continuing to report to Formosa Morgan and Bailey.
Both appointments are effective immediately, and will see the pair report to Jarrett.
“We have an abundance of talent within PHD’s executive and leadership team. After a period of sustained success for the agency, these promotions made complete sense from a business standpoint,” Jarrett said of his successors in the role.
“Lucy and Stuart have demonstrated their ability to lead not just within our agency, but the wider industry. Considering where our business is heading and where we want to be in the future, I am confident in their ability and passion to put us at the forefront of our industry and drive growth for both our business and our clients.”
Formosa Morgan steps up from chief investment and commercial officer. She joined Omnicom Media Group 14 years ago at OMD, before stepping across to PHD nine years ago.
“Having been with PHD through a transformational period of growth, I am extremely excited to be taking on the joint managing director role and continuing the impressive momentum we have in Australia,” she said.
“The agency has incredible leadership and a great vision. I am proud of everything we continue to achieve for our clients. The industry is changing at a rapid pace and to have this opportunity to help lead our clients throughout is a great honour.”
Bailey, meanwhile, joined PHD in 2017 as chief digital officer and has been with the holding group for eight years.
“The last three years have been an exciting journey at PHD, building out best-in-class digital capabilities that help our clients navigate an increasingly complex landscape,” Bailey said.
“Clients expect digital expertise to be seamlessly integrated within our offering, and that means building an agency that is set up for the future with the right capabilities, the right people, and the right structure to cope with increasing digitisation of the media landscape.
“We continue to strive to provide clients with the best expertise to lead their transformation journeys, and I am excited to work with such a talented team at PHD.”
Jarrett’s promotion, and the consequent leadership reshuffle, follows PHD’s CEO of seven years, Mark Coad, taking up the CEO of IPG Mediabrands position, which he’s due to commence in the first quarter of this year.
