Harwood-Matthews to leave TBWA\Manchester for LA
Robert Harwood-Matthews, the chief executive of TBWA\Manchester, will leave the agency for a position in Los Angeles in the new year.
Harwood-Matthews will become the global managing director of the Infiniti car account, based at TBWA\Chiat\Day in Los Angeles, in February – a role that will see him building a global team across markets including the USA, Europe, China, UAE, Russia and Korea.
Previously client services director at TBWA\London, Harwood-Matthews joined the group's Manchester operation in September 2006, when it was still known as BDH.
He told The Drum: "I'm delighted to have accepted the role - on a personal level, it's very exciting. It's probably a year earlier than I expected, but on a commercial level I think we've done a great job here."
Harwood-Matthews' arrival coincided with an overhaul of the agency which saw its BDH moniker dropped in favour of the TBWA\ brand and a number of senior staff members make way for a new management team, which included Fergus McCallum as chief operating officer.
McCallum will step into the role of chief executive when Harwood-Matthews takes up his new position on February 2.
Harwood-Matthews said: "BDH was a great agency with a fantastic reputation - it just needed to start singing again. Now we have some really sexy clients here - EA, BP Retail, ghd - which is great for the agency and great for this region as well."
He added that he couldn't think of "anyone better" than McCallum to replace him, and said: "I'm really pleased that Fergus will lead the agency forward. He's been recognised for his part in what we've done here already and it means the agency doesn't have to go through the pain of bringing in someone from the outside."