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Facebook snaps up Dare’s Leigh Thomas to head global brand partnerships across EMEA

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By Seb Joseph, News editor

July 14, 2016 | 3 min read

Facebook has snapped up another agency luminary with the appointment of Dare’s chief executive Leigh Thomas who will join as its director of global client partnerships for the EMEA region.

LeighThomas

Facebook snaps up Dare’s Leigh Thomas to head global brand partnerships across EMEA.

She will lead a global team, working with agencies and brands to help foster better strategies on the social network. Thomas reports to the vice president of client partnerships Will Platt-Higgins.

Thomas has been at Dare since 2013 and has played a key role in recalibrating the agency around digital services as well as its acquisition by Oliver Group last October. Prior to her arrival, she was managing director of Saatchi & Saatchi London.

Thomas is replaced by Dare’s managing partner Richard Neish, who heads up a new-look senior team consisting of chief technology officer Michael Olaye, managing partners Jamal Cassim and Reeha Alber-Shah, and joint heads of experience planning John Gibbard and Roz Thomas.

Sharon Whale, chief executive officer at Oliver Group UK, said: “Leigh has been offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at Facebook. It’s a natural progression in her career and we wish her all the best. We’re sure she’ll bring the same drive and devotion to her new role as she has to Dare.

“Promoting Richard to managing director is a no-brainer. He has DARE DNA running through his veins and he’s played a pivotal part in guiding the agency along its journey into a new era of digital. Richard is part of a new generation of passionate leaders at DARE. He, alongside Jamal, Reeha, Roz, John and Michael are fiercely determined to continue to develop ground-breaking ideas and work for clients, and will keep driving the business forward.”

Thomas’ hire follows in the footsteps of other senior agency executives to Facebook already this year. It poached iProspect’s global president Ben Woods for its newly-created director of agencies role in May, while former Crispin Porter + Bogusky chief executive Andrew Keller joined as its global creative director for Creative Shop at the start of the year.

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