Gerardo comes to MediaCom with an
excellent record of success, having thrived in leadership roles at
Havas in Spain, Portugal and Canada. He has also worked client side
at PepsiCo, Citibank and Unilever and is a lecturer for the
Executive Marketing Programme at ESADE, one of Europe's top
business management schools. He holds degrees from Harvard Business
School in the US and INSEAD in France.
Gerardo joins MediaCom on the 20th of
September.
In line with MediaCom's global growth
strategy, his brief will be to work closely with the network to
ensure Spanish clients benefit from gold standard products, tools
and services, using best practice from other markets to further
strengthen the agency's performance in Spain.
Additionally, as part of MediaCom's
"People first" programme, he will continue to grow the company's
talent pool, encouraging a nurturing environment that ensures
MediaCom employs the most talented and motivated staff in the
industry.
Spain is a key growth market for the
MediaCom network, which over the past two years has attracted
numerous new clients including Bayer and Chupa Chups. Gerardo
replaces Cesar Recalde who has successfully led the agency for two
years.
To further strengthen MediaCom's offer
in Spain, MediaCom has also appointed Begoña de la Sota as Office
Director of MediaCom Barcelona. Begoña joined MediaCom last May and
has since then been working as Director of Operations in the
Barcelona office. Begoña will report into Gerardo.
"Gerardo will no doubt be able to take
our Spanish offices to the next level, following an already strong
period of growth. In particular Gerardo's experience of drawing on
the strengths of a network to improve offerings to clients will be
invaluable and is directly in line with how we work at MediaCom. I
could not have wished for a better leader for our offices in Madrid
and Barcelona, and I look forward to working closely with him as he
settles into his new role," says Nick Lawson, CEO for MediaCom
Europe Middle East and Africa region.
Jose Maria Sanabria, CEO of GroupM in
Spain says "Having worked with Gerardo before, I could not be more
pleased with him joining our organisation. I regard him to be one
of the best professionals in the Spanish industry. Without doubts,
MediaCom and our clients will benefit from his excellent management
skills and his service oriented mind-set. I am convinced that
MediaCom very soon will see some very positive effects of his
leadership."