Omnicom Media Group Taps Cathy Collier to Lead OMD Canada

TORONTO, July 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Omnicom Media Group agency OMD announced its succession plan for OMD Canada today, naming former CP&B Managing Director Cathy Collier as CEO of OMD Canada.  Collier steps into the top spot following the retirement of Lorraine Hughes earlier this month.

Acknowledging the challenge of finding a successor for Hughes – an iconic name in the Canadian media industry, who helped make OMD Canada one of the top brands in the market – Omnicom Media Group North America CEO Page Thompson said, "We had a tall order in finding someone who could sustain and build upon Lorraine's success, and also continue to expand the agency's offer to keep ahead of a changing media landscape. Cathy's experience in communication planning, her client category knowledge and her record of leadership make her the ideal choice."

An industry veteran who has worked in communications for more than two decades, Collier joins OMD following two years at CP&B, where prior to being named Managing Director, she was the sole force behind the launch of the agency's connection planning affiliate, simply called "x." Prior to that she was SVP, Media Director at Cossette Media, where she focused on strategic media and communications planning for clients such as Nike, Coca-Cola and Bell.

During her 17-year tenure at Cossette, Collier built a reputation as an effective leader whose powers of persuasion made her as adept at winning new business as she was at keeping it. In 2008 she led the team that landed the hotly contested Cadbury account, sharing the win with US pitch partner Horizon Media.  

At Cossette, Collier played an important role in building the agency's reputation as one of the most awarded media companies in Canada, helping Cossette win three Cannes Media Lions and become a perennial winner at Canada's Media Innovation Awards, scooping up an armful of individual awards and four "Best in Show" trophies.

"I see my new role as being defined by two seemingly contradictory mandates – change and continuity," says Collier. "On the change end, it's about helping our clients understand and optimize developments like the blurring lines between media and content, and the newly empowered consumer, while the continuity remit is about sustaining the position that OMD Canada has achieved in this market as the leader in creativity, innovation and accountability. Both mandates are equally important, equally challenging and equally exciting."

A graduate of the University of Manitoba, where she earned an honors degree in commerce (marketing), Collier is a well-known figure in the Canadian media community. She served on the board of the Canadian Media Directors Council (CMDC) from 2005 through 2009, co-chairing the council's annual conference in 2008. Collier represented Canada as a media judge at the 2007 Cannes Lions festival, and was a member of the Print Measurement Bureau (PMB), and the Radio Executive Committee – Broadcast Bureau of Measurement (BBM).

Collier steps into her new role, in which she reports to Thompson, on August 16.

ABOUT OMD

OMD Canada, with offices in Toronto, Canada and Montreal, is part of OMD Worldwide (www.omd.com), a leading media communications agency with more than 8,000 employees in 97 markets serving many of the world's leading brands. Internationally recognized for its global footprint, strategic integration and creative innovation, OMD has been named Most Creative Media Agency by The Gunn Report for an unprecedented five consecutive years; Global Media Agency of the Year in 2008 and 2009 by Adweek; and 2009 Media Agency of the Year by Advertising Age.

OMD Worldwide is a unit of Omnicom Media Group, the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC).

SOURCE Omnicom