Richard Pinder as Chief Operating Officer, Publicis Worldwide

Richard Pinder stepped up to take sole leadership of the Publicis global network in May 2009 which,with 9000 employees in over 80 markets, is the founding pillar and largest agency network of the Publicis Groupe. He is a member of Publicis Groupe’s P12 Management Board and reports directly to Maurice Lévy, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe. He was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Publicis Worldwide in October 2006 and has been part of Publicis Groupe since its acquisition of Bcom3 in 2002.

Richard’s career in advertising spans over twenty years, with a wide range of experience in different sectors of the advertising and communications industry.  He has managed national, multinational and global clients and has worked extensively in Europe and Asia in top-level positions that attest to his leadership skills and proven adaptability.

Since early 2008 he has focussed the Publicis Worldwide network on Creating Contagious Ideas that Change the Conversation around clients brands.  This has demanded a network with a series of new tools that is a leader in Digital and a strong performer in Creativity as well as a network that is brilliant at understanding local cultures. 

With a major investment programme of acquisition and start up, Publicis Modem is now a formidable global digital network of 40 offices and over 1,200 employees allowing Publicis Worldwide to take a leadership position in Digital.

In the most recent issue of the creative ranking Gunn Report , Publicis Worldwide is in the Top Ten for the first time ever.  In addition in 2008 Publicis Conseil was named Agency of the Year and Creative Agency of the Year. 2008 and 2009 saw Publicis USA awarded Adweek’s highest agency grade alongside Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, and Wieden + Kennedy for two years running.

The Publicis global network delivers consistent strong growth from existing clients – including HP’s pan-European $150m PSG (Personal Systems Group) advertising and digital communications and P&G’s $200m global Crest assignment, plus new international assignments from Easyjet ($30m), Airbus ($30m), Carrefour (€1billion) and Visa’s pan-European advertising business for its sponsorship of the 2012 Olympics.

Before joining Publicis, Richard was President of Leo Burnett's EMEA region where he re-established the network’s growth track by focussing Leo on creativity and broadening its holistic offer through the strengthening of Arc, the marketing services arm of Leo.

Prior to leading EMEA, in 2000, Richard was Regional Managing Director of Leo Burnett Asia Pacific.  Under his leadership, Leo Burnett consistently ranked in the top three in terms of creativity, business activity and market share in nearly every country in the region.   By consistently championing creative and strategic excellence, Richard also led the network to strong local and regional new business performance.

The early years of Richard’s career were spent at Grey Advertising in London where he rose from Graduate Trainee to Client Services Director.  Richard then joined Ogilvy & Mather as UK Managing Director before moving to Leo Burnett in Asia Pacific.

Richard is 45 years old and lives in Paris.