After more than ten years leading OMD New Zealand as CEO, Kath Watson has announced her resignation.
From 1 August, Watson will support the business with the introduction of a new CEO and will be involved in broader projects such as commercial and workforce planning.
To minimise any client and staff disruption during this transition period, Watson will work closely with OMD’s leadership team of Jane Stanley and Andrew Reinholds, as well as OMD ANZ’s CEO, Peter Horgan.
“Kath has been a long serving, high-performing member of our business and helped create a great reputation for the OMD brand,” says Horgan.
“I have enjoyed working alongside her and thank her for her huge commitment over the last 20 years. We are delighted Kath has agreed to stay involved in this new capacity to help the broader leadership team, which will see further success and growth for our staff and clients at New Zealand’s largest media agency.”
Watson has spent the last 20 years of her career working with Omnicom in New Zealand. In 2004, she became CEO of OMD and helped steer the agency to a number of awards.
“Twenty years with one company is a long time by any measure. I have been lucky to have led an incredibly talented team over that time,” says Watson.
“Our sustained growth and award recognition is a testament to the efforts of the inspiring and passionate people I work with every day and a wonderful group of clients across our Auckland and Wellington offices. But now I’ve decided it’s time to hand the day-to-day leadership of OMD over to a new CEO. I’m looking forward to helping him or her and the leadership team take our business to even greater heights.”
