Group Chairman and Chief Executive, Cilla Snowball to leave AMV BBDO after 26 years
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Dame Cilla Snowball is leaving at the end of 2018 after being associated with Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO for about 26 years. She will be succeeded by Sarah Douglas as Chief Executive and by Justin Pahl as Group Chairman.
Snowball has a long history with the company as she joined the agency back in the year 1992 as their first new business director and has since then served as the Managing Director, Chairman, as the Group Chairman and also as the Chief Executive of the company. During her tenure, the company did quite well and won various agency of the year accolades for its creativity, effectiveness and marketing.
Moreover, in Snowball’s 26-year tenure, she has been the chairman of the Advertising Association as well as the President of the Wacl, the thirty club and the Marketing group of Great Britain. She has also received a damehood in the Queen’s birthday honors in 2017, almost eight years after Snowball picked up a CBE for providing services to the sector.
Andrew Robertson, the president and the chief executive of BBDO talked about his conversation he had with Cilla about a year ago. She informed him about her intention to leave the company, giving him a 12 months’ notice in order for her to pursue a portfolio based career and to work on boards and government initiatives which she was approached for quite frequently. Robertson claimed that he pretended from then on, that their conversation never really occurred and Snowball had spend her time tirelessly working on the agency’s business and reputation as well as the leadership team. Cilla, however meant what she had said and after the notice of 12 months, it was finally time for her to leave her job and the agency after a long association of 26 years.
The roles of Pahl and Douglas will come into effect from the 1st January 2019. They have also been associated with AMV for about 10 years and 18 years respectively.
Cilla says that it is quite hard to leave a job that she loves so much and that she enjoys. She claims that it is best to leave a great job when people ask you ‘why’ and not ‘when’ you are leaving the job. She claims that she is beyond grateful for the support and the opportunities she was given while her tenure at AMV BBDO and she was surrounded by the best people, work and the best clients. Cilla certainly loved doing her portfolio work but at the same time, is excited about her next chapter as well.