Rapp hunts CEO as London HQ goes

Rapp London is understood to be hunting its first chief executive for over four years, as it prepares to move out of its Hammersmith HQ – its home for over two decades.
The Omnicom-owned agency has been without a London CEO since the summer of 2011, when Pete Mitchell left in a round of job cuts at the agency which also saw the departure of group communications chief Robert Mayes.
Mitchell had taken over the running of the London agency in 2009 to cover then managing director Sam Nolan, who went on maternity leave. When she returned, he was appointed over her as CEO, but within two years he was out.
Nolan became group managing director of client development, and then in December 2012 took on the chief client officer role. John Perkins was promoted to managing director in February 2013.
However, with Nolan leaving in May this year, it is understood the agency wants to appoint a senior executive to support group CEO Marco Scognamiglio.
The search comes as the London agency is set to move out of its Hammersmith HQ and into Omnicom’s offices at Bankside 3, in Southwark, sitting alongside the likes of Proximity London, AMV, TBWA and Manning Gottlieb.
When Rapp – then WWAV Rapp Collins – first moved into the prestigious 1, Riverside offices, it was seen as a key moment in putting DM agencies on the map, and proof of the growing influence of the discipline.
However, more recently it has started to become like an albatross round the agency’s neck, with rumours that many of the offices in the 67,000 sq ft building remain unoccupied, despite it shipping in staff from TBCH and Haygarth.
No-one at Rapp was available for comment to DecisionMarketing.