Office of CEO leads McCann Healthcare Worldwide
January 7, 2010 – 12:22 pm by Gina MonariFour McCann Healthcare Worldwide executives will be shouldering the responsibilities of a newly created Office of the CEO in the wake of CEO Richard Nordstrom’s departure. Mr. Nordstrom is leaving the position he has served in since 2005 to take on new initiatives, which are expected to be announced at a future date, and his position will not be refilled.
McCann Healthcare Worldwide Network comprises five components. The components include three worldwide healthcare agency networks — Torre Lazur Healthcare Group, RCW Group, and McCann Healthcare group — and two global medical communications groups — Complete Medical Group and Caudex Medical. The four executives of the new Office of the CEO, who will have oversight responsibilities for McCann Healthcare Worldwide in addition to ongoing responsibilities for the companies they lead, are: Marci Piasecki, CEO of Torre Lazur Healthcare Group; Maureen Regan, managing partner of RCW Group; David Bachmann, chief financial officer, McCann Healthcare Worldwide; John Cahill, president, McCann Healthcare EMEA and Asia Pacific and of the worldwide medical communications groups.
According to Ms. Piasecki, the organization is looking — just like many of its client counterparts — toward greater efficiencies. She says the client-centric approach creates shorter supply lines between creating a global campaign and implementing it.
“If you remove that position, you have got people on the ground locally in north America, Asia-Pacific, and EMEA, who are closer to clients and it has taken out a layer,” Ms. Piasecki told Med Ad News. “So instead of filtering things through a position of one that oversees all, our clients are looking to go direct to the region.”
Ms. Piasecki is a 15-year veteran of Torre Lazur McCann, has been CEO of the Torre Lazur Healthcare Group of agencies, which comprises Torre Lazur McCann, echo-TL, TL Managed Markets, and TL Active Ingredient, since 2005. Before that, she was president of echo Torre Lazur in East Hanover, N.J.
John Cahill will be the chairman of the Office of the CEO, with oversight for global operations, as well as multinational coordination on behalf of clients, and will be a single point of contact for the McCann Healthcare Worldwide Network.
“This new structure both recognizes the leadership achievements of the four executives and will help us meet our clients global needs by fostering increased collaboration between McCann’s healthcare companies around the world,” says John Dooner, CEO of McCann Worldgroup. “We thank Richard for all that he has accomplished and wish him well with his new plans.”
Overseeing 4 healthcare communications agencies supporting the world’s most prominent pharmaceutical marketers, Ms. Piasecki has used her experience in the branding of many life-saving and life-changing medicines in the fields of oncology, neurology, cardiology, and vaccines.
Ms. Regan is a healthcare entrepreneur and strategist, marketer. One of the founding partners of Regan Campbell Ward McCann, she is one of the most prominent women in healthcare advertising. She has built a roster of clients that includes Amgen Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Novartis Oncology, Allergan, GlaxoSmithKline, and Merck & Co.
In the same year that she helped launch RCW, Ms. Regan was named “Woman of the Year” by the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association. She and her partners have launched more than 40 brands in the pharmaceutical marketplace.
Mr. Bachmann joined McCann Healthcare as chief financial officer in July, 2005. Before that he was chief financial officer of WPP’s Hill and Knowlton USA, and earlier he held chief financial officer posts with Ryan Partnership, a marketing services company, and Tudecio Communications, a marketing services and advertising company. He began his career as an auditor with an international public accounting firm, and later as a tax consultant.
Mr. Cahill joined the company in 1996 and was named to his London-based post in January 2009. Before that, he served as regional director of McCann Healthcare Asia Pacific and President of McCann Healthcare Japan, during which time he created the largest and one of the most innovative healthcare networks in the region engaging in Pharmaceutical marketing and Public Health programs. Earlier, he was Asia director for the company, with responsibility for growth in the healthcare markets of China, India, and S.E. Asia. This post took him to most of the countries in the Asia Pacific region, working with many of the governments of Asia and leading global healthcare clients including GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi Aventis, Pfizer Inc., Novartis, and Nestlé.
Ms. Piasecki believes the restructuring was in response to what clients are looking for because many of them are skipping the higher level and going direct — is is more efficient for clients and makes more sense, shortening the line of communication. When asked if there was potential to expand the role of the Office of the CEO as McCann expanded, Ms. Piasecki cited the strong consideration of integrating medical communications in the future.
“We have a very strong medical communications competency, and without a doubt we’re going to see and feel that integration will be very pronounced moving forward,” Ms. Piasecki told Med Ad News.
