Publicis Groupe Appoints Regional Chief Operating Officer for Northern & Central Europe

Publicis Groupe [Euronext Paris FR0000130577, CAC 40] announced today the appointment of Tomas Lauko as Regional Chief Operating Officer for Northern & Central Europe (NCE), effective 2 January 2019.

Tomas Lauko, most recently Global Client Leader with Publicis Media, will report directly to Jarek Ziebinski, Chief Executive Officer, Publicis Groupe Northern & Central Europe.

Based in Warsaw, Tomas will be responsible for driving the implementation of the Power of One model across Publicis Groupe’s operations in Northern & Central Europe and lead initiatives focused on accelerating innovation and digital transformation of company’s operating model to better serve diversified needs of today’s marketers. Leveraging his strong background in cross-country leadership, integrated planning and digital transformation, Tomas will be responsible for further enhancing collaboration and exchange across the teams to further enhance media expertise, digital upskilling and business development. In addition to that, he will also be charged with overseeing the integration of the recently-acquired Kindred Group in Czech Republic into the company.

Jarek Ziebinski, Chief Executive Officer, Northern & Central Europe said, “Tomas represents the next generation of leaders who possess both the in-depth understanding of our region as well as global business experience. Very importantly, his profile, set of skills and experiences are complementary with the needs of Publicis Groupe Northern & Central at its current stage of transformation. We are pleased that he will be coming on board as we chart a new chapter of growth.”

Tomas began his journey with Publicis Groupe at Zenith ten years ago when he was appointed to lead digital and business development across Central Eastern Europe (CEE) implementing digital and technology partnerships with companies like Facebook, Google, Adform or Gemius amongst others. He was promoted to Managing Director of Zenith’s operations in Czech Republic responsible for the agency’s transformation & P&L. Afterwards Tomas had served as CEO of Zenith in Russia from the beginning of 2014 where he led the agency and its clients through the Russian economy downturn years. Prior to this appointment, Tomas has been working in Paris since the end of 2016 as the Global Client Lead for L’Oreal.

Over the course of his career, Tomas has worked in Czech Republic, Germany, Russia and France where he had local, regional and global remits. During this time, he accumulated a wide-ranging experience working with local and multinational clients across numerous categories including Beauty, Luxury, Apparel, Telecommunication, Internet Products & Services, Automotive, Finance, Food, Hygiene, Pharma, Toys Entertainment and Retail.