DDB Worldwide announced that Mark O’Brien, currently DDB North America’s COO, has been named President of DDB North America, effective immediately. Dick Rogers, who previously held the title, will take on the role of Chairman of DDB North America.
“Mark has played an integral role in many of DDB’s most important initiatives enabling the agency to evolve ahead of its time,” said President & CEO of DDB Worldwide Chuck Brymer. “He is a great talent and exactly the type of forward-thinking person to continue our North American development.”
O’Brien first joined DDB in 1994. He was instrumental in establishing the DDB interactive business unit as a new profit center during the industry’s infancy in 1995, effectively founding one of the first digital agencies and what would later become Tribal DDB. After joining DDB’s corporate staff in 1998, in addition to spearheading the network’s acquisitions and negotiations with major clients, O’Brien laid out the blueprint for formally establishing Tribal DDB, which, revolutionary at the time, remains ten years later one of the most awarded and influential digital agencies. In 2001 O’Brien became CFO of DDB North America and Asia Pacific, where he helped to quickly develop and establish DDB as a major player in the Asia Pacific region.
