Lars Lehne Appointed As Group CEO Of Incubeta

Lars Lehne has been appointed Group CEO of Incubeta, the independent digital marketing services group.

The former SYZYGY AG CEO will be taking over from founder Alan Lipschitz, whose company Interface made the reverse acquisition of IncuBeta Holdings in 2011. Lipschitz will be moving into the role of chairperson of the board of directors of Incubeta.

Lehne brings with him more than 30 years of industry experience. Prior to Incubeta, Lehne spent four years as global CEO at SYZYGY, a publicly listed WPP company.

Before that, he spent seven years at Google as country director agency DACH, paving the way for the tech giant quadrupling revenues in Germany. He has also held various senior management positions in agencies including Maxus, GroupM, Carat and MEC. 

In addition to his current role as new Group CEO of Incubeta, Lehne is a member of the advisory board of Yext, and betterplace.org, a Berlin based NGO. He is also an Angel Investor in CLAIMINI GmbH.

As Group CEO, Lehne will be leading company positioning and growth, including its operations in North America, driving the business strategy and further uniting the group across the globe. 

“Having started a small South African business many years ago, I am so very proud of how far the company has come,” Alan Lipschitz, founder and chairperson of the board, said.

“By building a fantastic team around me and adding inspirational businesses from around the world, Incubeta has grown into a leading player in digital marketing services. The company is in a great place, yet I believe in order to accelerate pace and to meet the challenges of the future we need a different type of leader. 

“I have the utmost faith Lars is the leader the company needs to take Incubeta forward. He has the expertise to bring the team further together, drive clear strategy, and build on the fantastic foundation I have been able to create with my wonderful team.

“So it is with great pride and pleasure that I hand the mantle of chief executive officer of the Incubeta Group to Lars Lehne.”

Lars Lehne, Group CEO of Incubeta, commented: “I’m thrilled and honoured to be joining such a forward-thinking and innovative company.

“Incubeta has continued to grow during one of the most challenging years for the industry which is a testament to the quality and hard work of every team member across the globe. The company has flourished under Alan’s leadership and it’s a great privilege that he’s trusting me to take his dream forward.”

Sam Shennan, managing director, Incubeta Australia, added: “Alan has done an amazing job of leading the Incubeta Group to global success.

“During what has undoubtedly been one of the most challenging periods in time for the industry, Incubeta has been a driving forcing of innovation through the development of technology to better support its clients.

“I’m looking forward to working with Lars and welcoming him to the Incubeta family. Through his leadership I’m confident this new chapter will be as successful as the foundations of the past.” 

Incubeta operates across 14 countries with offices in cities including London, New York, Los Angeles, Madrid, Sydney and Cape Town.

In 2013, the highly successful Net Media Planet (NMPi) was acquired, which established significant growth for Incubeta as it boosted its advertising offerings. The subsequent acquisition in 2016 of forward-thinking marketing technology specialist DQ&A, extended the company’s geographical and product growth.

This was followed by the acquisition of market leading creative specialist, Joystick, in 2018. Through these acquisitions, Incubeta offers clients a full suite of unrivalled services connecting Media, Technology and Creative. 

In the last twelve months, Incubeta has launched several new innovative platforms. This has included the award-winning proprietary Seamless technology, including Seamless Search, which measures the incrementality of paid and organic SEO keywords, and Seamless Creative, which unifies media activity and creative assembly at scale.

The company has also made a series of new appointments including senior hire John Cawdery as US CEO.