LBi Strengthens US Offering

NEW YORK, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- LBi, the world's largest independent marketing and technology agency, is excited to formally announce a series of significant management changes in the US. These changes are the logical conclusion of an integration exercise that began at the start of the year with the formal merger of IconNicholson and Special Ops Media to create the LBi US Flagship in New York as well as the desire for continued expansion of the LBi footprint across the US.

Frank Pedersen, formally US COO of LBi, will now serve as CEO of the US organization. Co-President Judith Carr will step into the role of US President of LBi and Managing Director of the New York office. Christian Anthony, formerly CEO and Jason Klein, formally Co-President, have left and will now be pursuing new entrepreneurial opportunities.

In addition, after three years within the LBi Group family, Syrup has also confirmed that the agency will align more closely with the New York office of LBi. This partnership will provide Syrup clients with the benefit of a broader set of services including media planning and buying, SEM, SEO, social media, and a comprehensive technology offering.

Robert Holzer, previously CEO of Syrup, has left the agency to pursue new opportunities within the industry. Omino Gardezi has been promoted to Managing Director of Syrup and Jakob Daschek continues in his role as Executive Creative Director. These changes will allow the agency to provide more focused leadership; concentrating on developing strategic relationships with clients, helping to continue Syrup's legacy of producing innovative and award-winning work, as well as attracting some of the best talent in the industry.

"This is a very exciting time for LBi," said US CEO Frank Pedersen. "The unique strengths that LBi and Syrup bring to the table have long been a great complement to one another. We are very excited to blend Syrup's outstanding creativity and storytelling capabilities into the LBi offering and continuing our journey together."

LBi also has an Atlanta office led by Managing Director, Lisa Harper as well as a significant health offering based in New York and led by Managing Director, Gregg Fisher.

"This transformation is another big step in our ongoing desire to create a single integrated platform in the US that allows us to successfully compete against both the best local agencies and global networks," said Luke Taylor, Global CEO for LBi. "We have already added over 20 new clients to the US portfolio this year and continue to drive tremendous growth across our anchor clients. The new executive team has the perfect combination of skills to continue the growth and expansion of our offering in the States."  

About LBi

LBi is the world's largest independent marketing and technology agency, blending insight, creativity and expertise to solve business problems. The largest genuinely full service agency of its kind, LBi provides the full range of capabilities, including digital strategy, branded content, service design, media, CRM, technology, managed hosting and support services. LBi recently merged with Bigmouthmedia, the largest search engine marketing specialist in Europe. Combining LBi's best in class services with Bigmouthmedia's leading search engine marketing, LBi is now positioned to meet the growing customer demand for one agency to provide all of these services across geographies. The company now employs over 1,800 professionals located primarily in the major European, American and Asian business centers such as Amsterdam, Atlanta, Berlin, Brussels, London, Milan, Mumbai, New York, Paris and Stockholm. LBi is listed on NYSE Euronext in Amsterdam (symbol: LBI).

www.lbi.com/us  www.syrupnyc.com

SOURCE LBi