Huge Shoes To Fill? Mat Baxter Departs, Lisa De Bonis To Take On CEO Gig
Mat Baxter is stepping down as global CEO of IPG’s Huge, Lisa De Bonis, currently the agency’s chief product officer, is taking up the reins at the embattled creative consultancy.
Baxter joined the agency in 2021 and also announced that he would be leaving IPG altogether.
“During my time at Huge, I worked with an enormously talented team to fundamentally change the way the company does business. An instrumental member of that team was Lisa De Bonis who, as chief product officer, helped realise our vision and plan. She will succeed me as Global CEO,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
“Huge is lucky to have her, and I couldn’t think of a more capable pair of hands to take the reigns and continue the company’s transformation journey”.
Baxter said he was looking forward to starting a new chapter and working on Australian time zones again after returning to Sydney in August last year.
“Lisa is a digital-first thinker with deep and global experience in digital marketing, consultancy and creativity, who can build on the company’s positioning as a center for innovation that delivers business results,” said IPG CEO Philippe Krakowsky.
“Mat has been an important part of IPG for over 14 years, leading a range of organisations, people and capabilities with a great strategic brain and a big heart, and we’re thankful for his contributions.”
Before taking the top job at Huge, De Bonis was managing director at Accenture Interactive, operating in multiple leadership roles across the UK and Europe. She drove double-digit growth across communications and technology clients, enabled the integration of key acquisitions and launched a new capability to scale experience-driven engagements.
Since the start of her career in Paris and London, De Bonis has helped create and deliver impactful campaigns for international brands such as Orange, Coca-Cola and SABMiller, before co-founding Work Club, which was subsequently acquired by Havas.
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