Jaywing chairman Martin Boddy has stepped down from the agency he co-founded over 20 years ago with immediate effect, to “pursue other interests”.
Boddy, who started his career as a management trainee at Barclays in the mid-Eighties, held senior roles at First Direct, Guardian Direct and Macon before joining forces with former First Direct colleague Andy Gardner to launch Jaywing in May 1999.
Within seven years the agency had been acquired by the Ben Langdon-led Digital Marketing Group and had over 100 employees.
When Langdon left in 2011, all DMG agencies were rebranded to the 20:20 Group but Boddy reversed this in 2013 and Jaywing was reborn. A year later, Jaywing bought Epiphany in a deal which was eventually worth £18m.
Late last year, Jaywing launched a major review of its business structure, just weeks after blaming the ongoing political turmoil for a £6m slump in revenues.
The move came despite a deal with two key shareholders to provide an injection of working capital for the group, that includes the main agency, Epiphany, Jaywing PR, Jaywing Intelligence and the Australian arm.
Jaywing is now searching for a successor to Boddy, with Ian Robinson taking on the role of non-executive chairman on an interim basis.
An operating executive committee comprising the two senior executive directors will report directly to him.
Robinson commented: “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Martin for his contribution to the board and for leading the business over the last eight years. We wish him all the best for the future.”
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