M&C Saatchi Group Appoints Nadja Bellan-White as CEO, North America

M&C Saatchi Group, the global creative solutions company, today announced it has appointed Nadja Bellan-White as CEO, M&C Saatchi North America Group.

Nadja, who has served as CEO of M&C Saatchi SS+K since January and will continue in that role, will lead the network’s growth in the US and oversee the further integration of its agencies. She will work with US regional leaders to leverage the agencies’ specialized talent to build and deploy bespoke teams, custom-designed to solve clients’ most important business challenges. 

“This appointment represents the continued evolution of our US businesses and a strategic shift to a region-specific model that we’ve successfully deployed in other parts of the world,” said M&C Saatchi global CEO Zaid Al-Qassab. “Nadja’s breadth of experience as an integrated agency leader, her balance of creative and commercial experience, and overall passion for our clients make her a perfect fit for this role.”

“Throughout my career, I have led businesses to embrace new ways of working, break through in fast-changing cultural environments, and build teams that can grow and adapt to real-time changes in the marketplace,” said Nadja. “As M&C Saatchi prepares to really put a stake in the ground in the US, I look forward to partnering with our US leaders to pull the best talent from each agency to create new and innovative ways of working across disciplines to provide clients not just with advertising or marketing services but with a full suite of tailored business solutions designed for their unique needs.”

As CEO of North America, Nadja will be responsible for planning and executing an accelerated regional growth strategy and driving the operational integration of businesses into one P&L. She will oversee a region that includes:

• M&C Saatchi SS+K, a creative agency with deep political experience that represents major brands and purpose-led organisations led by Nadja.
• M&C Saatchi Clear, a global strategy consultancy that uses data, analytics and insight to help brands unlock growth, led by Rhonda Hiatt.
• M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment., a full-service PR and influencer agency specialising in sport, entertainment and lifestyle, led by Steph Lund.
• M&C Saatchi Performance, a full-service media agency which serves brands across all performance channels with a focus on mobile, led by Guillaume Lelait.
• M&C Saatchi MCD, a digital marketing and experience design agency delivering end-to-end digital experiences, led by Ian Magnani. 
• Fluency, a part of M&C Saatchi Group, a global data consultancy, specialising in delivering insight, foresight, and oversight solutions fuelled by high-quality data, analytics, and technologies, led by Tim Spencer.

Nadja brings to the role deep experience in leadership roles at organisations undergoing change across the globe. Before joining M&C Saatchi, she was global CMO of VICE Media Group, where she oversaw enterprise brand strategy. 

Previously, she was executive partner and WPP Team Leader for Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, where she led the brand transformation for Unilever across beauty and personal care, focusing specifically on Dove, and led behaviour change for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation globally. She also led brand work for American Express, LG Electronics, IKEA North America, Coca-Cola, Siemens and Safaricom/Vodafone. In 2014, she was promoted to CEO of Ogilvy Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, where she managed business across the continent.

In the expanded role, Nadja will report directly to Zaid.