Dentsu Promotes Stephen Kiely to CEO of Tag Americas

Dentsu Canada announced today the promotion of Patrick Hounsell to CEO. This role will see Patrick leading the Canadian market with the continued ambition to be a beacon of constant innovation and integration.

Patrick is a seasoned digital media and agency executive. He has spent the last 25 years at the forefront of the digital marketing industry building teams and client solutions that utilized innovations in data, technology and media helping to shape and grow top brands.

To accelerate adoption of the Tag x dentsu offering in the market across the client portfolio, Dentsu asked Stephen to lead Tag Americas. In this role, Stephen will lead the vision, value creation, and growth velocity of Tag across the US, Canada, and Latin America to deliver on clients’ growing demand for tech-enabled, AI-integrated creative production. 

These appointments underscore dentsu’s commitment to excellence and our ambition to lead in the industry.

“We are building a competitive and differentiated offering to match our clients’ future growth ambitions across Canada, the U.S and Latin America,” said Michael Komasinski, CEO, dentsu Americas, “Patrick’s appointment as CEO of Dentsu Canada and Stephen's appointment as CEO of Tag Americas, signals our sharpened commitment to globalised delivery of end-to-end expertise across creative, media and technology. I look forward to seeing the impactful contributions Patrick and Stephen will make in their new roles.”

These leadership changes are pivotal to the next phase of dentsu’s growth strategy. Stephen’s exemplary leadership and track record of driving transformational growth in Canada will now propel Tag’s production and technology business across the Americas. Kiely’s skills in aligning operations with the One dentsu Operating Model will be instrumental in meeting the increasing demands of our clients for efficiency and scale. Additionally, Patrick brings a wealth of experience in performance media, data and technology, and CRM, which will further strengthen dentsu Canada’s reputation for creative and media innovation. Hounsell's deep understanding of the Canadian market and seamless ability to collaborate across North America will undoubtedly foster greater synergies and sustained growth.

“As I reflect on the past 3+ years as CEO of Canada, I am filled with so much pride and appreciation for all that we have accomplished. We set out to reignite the core of our business, and create new paths for sustainable growth, notwithstanding the macro forces in our industry and around the world. We have become a tighter family, a strong community and the most vibrant place for the most creative and ambitious people in the industry” said Stephen Kiely, CEO Tag Americas “Looking ahead to my next role, the market is energized by the combined power of Tag and dentsu. We’ve already seen the success of this winning value proposition with the recent Adobe win and I want this to be a force multiplier.”

“Canada continues to be a high-priority growth market for the Americas and dentsu globally. And I’m looking forward to building on the momentum Stephen and his leadership team have set in motion,” added Patrick Hounsell, CEO dentsu Canada. “Given the cross-collaboration of our clients, capabilities, and talent across our market in Canada, my ambition is to add to that commitment of not only delivering best-in-class brand but of performance capabilities too.”

This passing of the baton has been well planned and the transition will be happening over the coming months with Stephen and Patrick officially taking their new roles full time as of January 1, 2025.