GroupM names new MediaCom CEO

0

GroupMGroupM announced two executive appointments, naming Harvey Goldhersz Chief Data Officer and CEO of GroupM Analytics, and Phil Cowdell, North America CEO of MediaCom, a GroupM agency. Both roles are effective immediately.


Goldhersz joins GroupM from MediaCom, where he has served as Vice Chairman and Worldwide COO for a decade. Prior to 2004, Goldhersz was founder and CEO of MediaCom Digital and CEO of Beyond Interactive, ultimately merging four separate entities – Beyond Interactive, MediaCom Digital, media.com, and Grey E-Media. Under his leadership, MediaCom has become the largest integrated interactive media agency network in the industry as ranked independently by RECMA.

Dominic Proctor, President GroupM Global, said of Goldhersz’s appointment, “From the start, GroupM’s mission has been the intelligent application of scale. GroupM owns or has access to arguably the richest and largest data sets available. The creation of this new role will ensure our agencies and their clients have superior access to the data-led insights that can truly transform their media initiatives and performance. With his deep experience working with some of the largest data-driven advertisers in the world and building successful analytics practices to serve them, Harvey is uniquely positioned to take on this critical role in the business.”

Goldhersz’s responsibilities as MediaCom’s Vice Chairman and Worldwide COO will be absorbed by the agency’s current leadership team, led by Worldwide Chairman and CEO Stephen Allan.

Goldhersz has also been CEO of MediaCom North America since 2011, a role that will now be assumed by Phil Cowdell, currently President of Client Services for GroupM. In his previous roles as CEO and then Chairman of Mindshare North America, Cowdell led that agency to nearly $2 billion in new business wins in less than two years.

Phil Cowdell

Phil Cowdell

Cowdell will work alongside MediaCom’s US CEO Sasha Savic and Jamie Edwards, CEO of MediaCom Canada, to ensure that the agency continues to build its stature and client list across the region, following recent wins for eBay, DSW and Legacy.

“With Harvey supporting MediaCom as head of GroupM Analytics and Phil taking his spot as our North American CEO, we are in a truly enviable position to develop both our global offer, as well as our North American business. Phil will contribute greatly to the product build-out underpinning our global positioning as the Content and Connections Agency, ensuring that our skills and offerings as system thinkers are optimally aligned with both the needs of current clients as well as our new business opportunities,” said Stephen Allan, MediaCom Worldwide Chairman and CEO.  “We welcome Phil to our leadership team, and look forward to his contribution as a member of our worldwide executive committee.”