Euro RSCG's David Jones promoted to CEO of Havas

Jones had been global chief executive of Havas Worldwide, in addition to global chief executive of Euro RSCG Worldwide, since 2006.

 

According to a Havas statement: "Fernando Rodés expressed his desire to give a new direction to his personal and family entrepreneurial activities. He will remain associated in the development of the group in the Iberian area and Latin America. He has therefore submitted his resignation as CEO of Havas and as a member of the Board of Directors."

 

Jones has been one of the group’s standout stars since he joined Euro RSCG Australia in 1998 as managing director and was promoted to the role of chief executive one year later at the age of 32.

 

Prior to joining Euro RSCG, Jones was at the time the youngest-ever board director at AMV/BBDO in the UK. 

 

Rodés will stay on with Havas as vice chairman.

 

Elsewhere, Alfonso Rodés was named deputy chief executive and will remain chief executive of Havas Media.  

 

Yannick Bolloré and Stéphane Fouks were named vice presidents of the group.

 

Details of the new leadership structure at Havas, whose operations include Euro RSCG, Havas Media and Arnold Worldwide, came as the group reported a 20% rise in net income in 2010 to €110 million, and sales up 8%. 

 

Group revenue for 2010 was €1,558 million, which represents a gross increase of 8.1% over 2009.

 

Growth was largely driven by operations in North America, where new business wins included accounts for Groupon CRM business (Euro RSCG Chicago), Panasonic, Mike's Hard Lemonade, CVS, Alberto Culver and New Balance (Arnold).

 

Havas’ European operations reported a return to organic growth of 1.2% in the fourth quarter of 2010, following a slight lift of 0.7% in Q3. Business picked up throughout the year, with the first half of 2010 proving sluggish, with falls of 3% and 2.2% in Q1 and Q2 respectively. 

 

Euro RSCG also benefitted from a series of large global accounts wins, including Durex and Scholl, Credit Suisse global business, Orange and Yahoo! for the FIFA World Cup. 

 

Asia Pacific was lifted by strong fourth quarter growth in China. Latin America confirmed double-digit growth over the year as a whole, fuelled in large part by businesses in Brazil.

 

This article first appeared on Campaign UK