OMD UK expands leadership team following OMG shake-up

Omnicom Media Group’s OMD UK has made three leadership promotions in its planning and buying team following the promotion of Vicky Fox and Christian Byron to leadership roles at OMG.

Fox has been promoted to chief planning officer and Byron to chief commercial officer at OMG UK. More details about their appointments are expected to come this week.

Replacing Fox with immediate effect as chief planning officer at OMD UK is former head of media planning Rhian Feather.

Jack Beck, the agency’s managing partner of performance, becomes chief operations officer at OMD UK, replacing Byron.

Carl Connaughton has also been promoted to the newly created role of chief investment officer at OMD UK, from the position of head of investment.

The promotions are the first made by Suzy Ryder since becoming chief executive of OMD UK in November.

Ryder's promotion followed Laura Fenton taking on the role of UK chief executive at OMG.

Speaking on the new promotions, Ryder said: “All three appointments play a critical role in driving transformation through OMG’s 'Agency as a Platform' approach, ensuring our clients and people have access to the very best that OMD and OMG have to offer.

“I am delighted to be able to offer these well-deserved growth opportunities to high-performing talent within the agency. 

“It’s testament to the abilities of Rhian, Jack, and Carl, but also of our commitment to building career pathways for our people.”

All of the new appointments are long-serving OMD UK employees.

Feather started at the agency as a communications planner in 2010 and was recognised by FIPA in the IPA’s summer honours this year. 

Beck joined OMD UK in 2016 as digital performance director and has quickly worked his way through the ranks as head of biddable then head of performance, before becoming managing partner of performance in 2021.

Before OMD UK, Beck was performance account director at Maxus Global. He’s also a prior Liberal Democrat council member for Brent Council.

Connaughton started his career at OMD UK as a graduate television buyer in 2003 and became TV buying manager in 2005.

Since then he has held several roles at the agency, including buying director, head of TV, and head of AV investment prior to becoming head of investment in 2019.