Marshall returns to head Billingtons

Former Marketing Store and Publicis chief Simon Marshall is returning to the UK after nearly three years in the States to be chief executive of Billington Cartmell Group.
He will succeed John Gellett, who joined Billingtons last year and is to switch to a wider role within the group.
Marshall, a former captain in the British Army, worked at many of the top DM agencies including Carlson, GGT Direct and OgilvyOne before being appointed chief executive of Publicis Dialog in 2000.
While there, he struck up a partnership with creative director Mike Cavers and the duo ended up working together again when they joined the Marketing Store in 2007. However, Cavers left soon after Marshall was promoted to executive vice-president and managing director of Marketing Store North America in March 2011.
Marshall was responsible for operations in both the US and Canada, representing a diverse group of clients including McDonald’s, Nissan, Shell, Coca-Cola North America and General Mills among others.
He has also worked on some of the top global brands including American Express, British Airways, General Motors, Zurich Financial Services and Renault.
Billington Cartmell non-executive chairman Rupert Howell said: “When John joined us last year on a fixed term, we had a clear set of objectives and his remit was to drive these forward. John has certainly done this and more as 2013 has been a phenomenal year for the Group.
“We have recruited major new talent, such as Bo Hellberg as executive creative director, modernised the business, and had significant new business success. Simon’s role is to build on this success and take the Group through phase two.”
Marshall added: “I have followed the group for several years and am deeply impressed with the heritage of the agency but also the major progress of the last couple of years.”