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Tham Khai Meng Advertising WPP

Ogilvy CCO Tham Khai Meng fired following internal complaints on ‘behavior’

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By Bennett Bennett, Staff writer

July 11, 2018 | 3 min read

Ogilvy announced in a memo from worldwide CEO John Siefert the firing of Tham Khai Meng, its longtime chief creative officer and co-chairman.

Tham Khai Meng

Ogilvy CCO Tham Khai Meng has been terminated due to reported complaints of behavior.

Meng had held the role at the WPP firm since 2009, a role that effectively ended after a two-week investigation memo Seifert sent to his staffers globally.

In the letter, Siefert announced that a number of complaints regarding Meng's behavior came to his attention, and launched an investigation into the dealings.

"I have decided to terminate Khai's employment with the company with immediate effect," said Seifert.

The Drum had requested comment from Ogilvy, and has only received the contents of his memo at this time.

The memo, as written by Ogilvy chief executive, John Seifert:

Two weeks ago, I was informed of employee complaints regarding the behavior of Tham Khai Meng, Chief Creative Officer of The Ogilvy Group.

I found these complaints serious enough to appoint external legal counsel to investigate the matter.

After carefully reviewing the investigation’s findings with several of my partners, we concluded that Khai’s behavior was a clear breach of our company values and code of conduct. I have decided to terminate Khai’s employment with the company with immediate effect.

Each year, we ask every employee in the company to read, authorize, and fully commit to a code of conduct that each of us is responsible for living up to. Over the past 70 years, we have institutionalized shared values and a standard of professional behavior unique to the Ogilvy brand.

This is an important moment to reaffirm that no individual in this company is too senior or too important not to be held accountable for their actions.

Thank you for your support.

Tham Khai Meng Advertising WPP

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