John Wren is the President and CEO of Omnicom Group, a Fortune 500 company and premier global provider of marketing communications services. He was named CEO in 1997 and elected President in 1996. Under his leadership, Omnicom has achieved status as a world-class company with one of the best corporate and divisional management in the advertising industry.
Omnicom manages a portfolio of global marketing leaders, consistently recognized as being among the world’s best creative, including BBDO, DDB, FleishmanHillard, Interbrand, Ketchum, OMD, PHD, Porter Novelli, Rapp, and TBWA. Omnicom companies work with more than 5,000 global, national and local clients all over the world, providing brand advertising, media planning and buying, digital and promotional marketing, CRM, public relations and other specialty communications services.
Omnicom has been named a “Most Admired Company” by Fortune, consistently appears among the top 250 performers of the Fortune 500, and was ranked Number One in its peer group by The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Wren has also been recognized as one of the Best-Performing CEOs in the World by Harvard Business Review, Best CEO by Institutional Investor and as Executive of the Year by Advertising Age.
Mr. Wren was part of the team that created Omnicom Group in 1986, two years after entering the advertising business as an Executive Vice President with Needham Harper Worldwide. He was appointed CEO of the Diversified Agency Services (DAS) division of Omnicom in 1990, and was responsible for developing this division into the holding company’s fastest growing and largest operating group, comprised of innovative companies in a wide array of communication disciplines ranging from public relations to branding.
As CEO of DAS and then Omnicom, Mr. Wren has championed the company’s investment in the recruitment and development of top talent through several key programs, including Omnicom University, the industry standard for senior management training in professional service firms. In addition, the American Advertising Federation (AAF) honored him as a pioneer and supporter of Diversity.
Mr. Wren is a member of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum and is active in a number of philanthropic endeavors. A member of the Board of Directors of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and a Trustee of the Arthur Ashe Foundation, Mr. Wren also supports healthcare education for disadvantaged communities and has been recognized for his contributions to the community with numerous accolades, among them the Gold Medal Award from the Catholic Youth Organization and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
Omnicom Group, Inc. is an American marketing and corporate communications holding company, headquartered in New York City. Omnicom's branded networks and specialty firms provide various services in advertising and public relations, including strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, and customer relationship management (CRM).[3]
On 28 July 2013, it was announced that Publicis Groupe and Omnicom Group would merge to form Publicis Omnicom Group.,[4] which would have been the largest marketing and advertising holding company in the world. However, on May 8, 2014, the merger was called off,[5] reportedly due to a "mix of clashing personalities, disagreements about how the companies would be integrated and complications over legal and tax issues".[6] Another factor was that China’s antitrust regulator Mofcom "had not granted the deal regulatory approval".[6]
