Pinder leaves Publicis as Naouri takes top ad role

His departure without a job to go to makes room for the appointment of Jean-Yves Naouri as the executive chairman of Publicis Worldwide.

Some sources close to Publicis believe that Naouri, who will add the ad network role to his post as the Publicis Groupe chief operating officer, is a strong candidate to succeed Publicis Groupe chairman and chief executive Maurice Levy when he eventually retires.

Pinder, who was previously the president EMEA for Publicis network Leo Burnett, was promoted to the Publicis Worldwide role in 2006 was then handed full responsibility for the network in 2009.

Levy said, "After 25 years in advertising, including eleven within our group, Richard has told me he would like to turn to fresh challenges. Although I am very sorry to see him go, I respect his decision."

This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk.