International brand experience and creative production business The EC Group has appointed former McCann global CEO Chris Macdonald as group chief executive to drive the next phase of its growth.
Macdonald has over 30 years’ experience working in the creative industries, with senior leadership roles at McCann in both the UK and the US, having previously worked at Publicis, Lowe Howard-Spink, and Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R.
In fact, he spent at total of 18 years at McCann, starting in London in 2005, and serving as chairman and CEO between 2008 and 2013, before moving to the US as president of McCann New York and North America, and global president of McCann Worldgroup.
Macdonald stepped down from his role at McCann at the end of Q1 2023 and returned to the UK after nearly a decade in the States, citing family reasons. Since then he has worked as an investor, board advisor and non-executive director.
His appointment at EC Group to the newly created role reflects a period of exceptional growth for the group and follows the recent acquisition of global brand experience agency Ivor Worldwide.
With offices in London, New York, Houston and Barcelona, the EC Group is also home to creative experience and event production agency Event Concept and floral design studio Veevers Carter.
In further changes to the leadership team, the group has also promoted Event Concept MD Adam Stanley to the role of group MD and hired Nick Charlton as group CFO; he was most recently the global SVP, commercial operations at BBC Studios.
EC Group founder Mark Beaver said: “Chris has been a board advisor for the past 18 months and has made a really positive impact on the business, our strategy and leaders during a period of substantial growth. It became clear that Chris could
play a more significant role inside the company and I am delighted that he has agreed to join us as our group CEO.”
Macdonald added: “It was going to take something really special for me to take on another CEO role and The EC Group is just that. It’s a group of companies dedicated to their clients, creatively driven and in the fastest growing sector of the marketing ecosystem.
“It’s an exciting time for brands and businesses to invest more in experiences and events which are easily measurable, uniquely ownable and create lasting impact. I believe The EC Group can be at the forefront of this movement.”
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