Emma Montgomery takes CEO post at DDB Chicago

Emma Montgomery from Leo Burnett Australia has been appointed as CEO of DDB Chicago Information obtained by Campaign US.Since the position has been vacant, Emma Montgomery has been appointed to fill the vacant role of Andrea Diquez who left in October 2022 to join Gut as global CEO. 

Emma Montgomery will report to Alex lubar who is global president and chief operating officer. She returned to Chicago after serving at Leo Burnett Chicago as CEO and president from 2017 to 2020.DDB has officially confirmed the hiring of Emma Montgomery as CEO to Campaign US. They shared a note with their staff and plan to discuss the news at an all-hands meeting later today.

DDB New York and Adam & Eve DDB will merge, under newly appointed CEO Caroline Winterton. The agency aims to expand its operations in New York and embrace the creative spirit associated with Adam & Eve, according to Brim's interview with Campaign US.
DDB is going through a lot of changes in North America due to executive departures and internal pressure since Wendy Clark left in April 2020.

Clark had left DDB to become global CEO at Dentsu International
Where She served until September 2022. Now her role is filled by O'Halloron and focused on positioning DDB as a creative agency by chasing growth in digital and precision marketing.

According to the campaign Us 2023 review despite of all these efforts,Creative work still makes up 65%of DDB's business in North America.According to the sources bacause of pressure to perform from parent Omnicom led to frustration across the organization.
Since then DDB has lost a lot north American leadership team which has built up since 2021, Including CEO Justin Thomas-Copeland, Darla Price, chief creative officer Britt Nolan and chief production officer Diane Jackson, as well as Diquez. Other departures in recent months include chief data officer Jatinder Singh, DDB New York chief strategy officer Auro Trini Castelli and North America chief strategy officer Eric Zuncic.

As part of a strategic shift, DDB aims to dissolve its North American leadership layer and have leaders at each office report directly to global leadership. The hiring of Montgomery in Chicago align.