Dentsu International recruits global COO from Accenture

Dentsu International has appointed Nnenna Ilomechina as global chief operating officer to succeed Neil Gissler on his retirement this quarter.

Ilomechina will join the business in May this year and report directly to global chief executive Wendy Clark. As global COO, Ilomechina will oversee business transformation and the delivery of profitable growth.

Ilomechina has over 20 years of experience of leadership in digital transformation and joins Dentsu International from Accenture Strategy, where she was managing director, UK and Ireland CMT (communications, media, tech) strategy lead, since 2016. Prior to that, she was a senior director at AlixPartners.

Ilomechina said: “I am energised by the opportunity to work together with the exceptional talent within Dentsu, across media, customer experience management and creative to create an environment and operational infrastructure that will enable Dentsu to seamlessly offer a truly integrated client experience, making our teams successful and delivering long-term value for Dentsu.”

Clark added: “Ilomechina is an exceptional leader with the rare combination of business savvy, operational know-how, cultural sensitivity and a deep understanding of people and their motivations. This fusion of capability is critical for dentsu as we move into the final phases of our own transformation.”

One of Ilomechina’s recent achievements include being a Senior Professional Services Finalist at the 2020 Black British Business Awards.

Her appointment at Dentsu follows several key hires to the leadership team. These include: Michael Komasinsky as global CEO of Merkle, Fred Levron as global chief creative officer and, more recently, Alex Hesz as global chief strategy officer.