Ogilvy APAC chairman Paul Heath quits agency

The Asia-Pacific chairman of Ogilvy & Mather is stepping down from the agency to try his hand at becoming an entrepreneur. Paul Heath will be moving from New York to Brazil to launch a startup streaming technology firm.

Heath, who had succeeded Miles Young as chairman and CEO of Ogilvy Asia-Pacific, left the region for New York in 2016 to take up a new global role as executive director and chief growth officer, but kept his APAC chairman title. 

In an internal memo to global employees dated March 27 and obtained by Campaign Asia-Pacific, Ogilvy global CEO John Seifert lauded Heath as a driver. “Paul has always been a trusted advisor to our clients,” Seifert said, adding he “has contributed in multiple ways to virtually all of our most valued global clients.” Among those clients, Heath notably had a central role in securing and growing key clients like Motorola, Coca-Cola and Mondelez.

Heath started his advertising career at Ogilvy as a trainee in London in the 1980s and then later returned to the agency to become APAC president in 2003. He would stay with the agency for the next 15 years and was further promoted to APAC CEO in 2009. 

Heath maintained ties to the region after moving to New York in 2016 not only as APAC chairman but also as board member of WPP AUNZ. In a press release, WPP AUNZ chairman Robert Mactier said the board had “very much appreciated and benefited from Paul’s global perspectives on creative agencies” and wished him success.

Of Heath’s new plans to form a startup, Seifert told Ogilvy employees he was “personally thrilled” for Paul as he started “an exciting next chapter of his own making”, adding he was now “a true digital entrepreneur.”