Dentsu veteran Will Swayne has been appointed as the agency group’s leading executive for its global media planning and buying operations.
Swayne, who joined the business in 2000, has been elevated to the role of Global Practice president – Media.
This is part of a global executive restructure and The Media Leader understands that further regional changes are being finalised this week, too. This includes appointing a long-term replacement for Hamish Nicklin, Dentsu UK’s former chief executive of media, who announced his departure in May.
Peter Huijboom will step away from his role as CEO, Media, International Markets at the end of this year. He will move into an advisory role as executive advisor, Client Relations.
Swayne has now been tasked with setting a vision for future-proofing Dentsu’s media capability and using media to help clients grow. In particular, he has been set the challenge of delivering “implementation excellence” by Dentsu’s supply-side management platform for online media inventory, Amplifi.
Swayne joined Dentsu in March 2000, where he managed Carat’s global Adidas account, and over the years he has led the media agency in different markets as MD of Carat Hong Kong and MD of Carat USA, before being appointed as global president of Carat. Since 2019, he has been the chief client officer within media.
Further leadership changes include Jean Lin, who was recently appointed as group president — Global Practices, Dentsu; Yasuharu Sasaki, who has been named global chief creative officer; and Pete Stein, who become global practice president for Customer Experience Management.
