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WPP subsidiary Kantar has a new CEO: Alexis Nasard. The Lebanese-origin chief executive officer leads a team of than 30,000 employees working in over 80 countries.
Alexis Nasard brings almost 30 years of experience in the fast moving consumer goods and retail world to the global data, insights and consulting giant. Effective 30th December 2020, he succeeds Eric Salama, who was ousted from the top role in February this year after spending over a decade at the helm.
Following a search process, led by Adam Crozier, the former ITV and Royal Mail boss who was installed by Bain Capital (a private equity firm which acquired 60% of Kantar in July last year) as Kantar’s chairman, Nasard was put forward as the ideal candidate.
Originally from Lebanon – he obtained his master’s degree in Civil Engineering from Saint Joseph University from Beirut – Nasard brings the leadership and industry skills to take Kantar to the next level, said Crozier.
“In Alexis we have appointed a world-class chief executive officer. He understands the value Kantar delivers, and the role it plays in advising the world’s biggest consumer brands. His leadership and international experience will be instrumental in fulfilling the ambition that we have for Kantar.”
Nasard is currently the CEO of Bata, the world’s biggest shoemaker by volume, since 2016, and before that, he spent six years at Heineken, culminating in the position of Global Chief Marketing Officer and President of the Western Europe Business. Earlier, he held a variety of general management and marketing roles at Procter & Gamble, where he spent more than 15 years.
Commenting on his new challenge, Nasard said: “Throughout my career Kantar has been a trusted advisor, informing many of the strategies, as well as communication and commercial plans my teams and I led. As much as I understand Kantar’s heritage and reputation today, it is our future that excites me most.”
“The combination of Kantar’s deep understanding of consumers around the world, its proprietary data sets and expertise in advanced analytics and artificial intelligence puts the firm in a leading position to reshape the insights and consulting market, whilst offering clients superior analytics they can monetise.”
Christophe Jacobs, a Managing Director at Bain Capital, looks forward to Nasard taking office. “This appointment is an important step on Kantar’s journey to become the world’s leading advisor on data-driven marketing and commercial strategies and a key ecosystem partner for global technology leaders.”
“Alexis understands first-hand the value such a strategy offers to the world’s leading consumer brands and has the creativity and operational experience to bring that strategy to life.”
Kantar formerly was the parent of a range of well-known brands in the marketing, advertising and consultancy space, including Kantar TNS, Kantar Millward Brown, Kantar Media and Kantar Worldpanel. In May 2019 the firm unified all its brands into the single Kantar brand, consolidating its brand as the world’s second largest behind rival Nielsen.
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