This image was lost some time after publication.

Who

Chuck Brymer is president and CEO of the ad agency DDB, a post he's held since April 2006.

Backstory

A native of Louisville, Brymer grew up in the advertising business: His father worked at McCann-Erickson's regional office and Chuck plunged into the ad trade right out of college, joining the Houston office of BBDO in 1982 and working on the Chrysler account. Three years later he joined Interbrand, the branding consultancy founded by John Murphy in London. He ended up spending close to two decades at the firm and helped guide the British agency's U.S. expansion. In 1994, after the firm was acquired by Omnicom, Brymer was appointed Interbrand's chairman and CEO. In 2006, Omnicom chief John Wren tapped Brymer to be DDB's CEO following the death of Ken Kaess, the high-profile ad exec who had spent 20 years at DDB and had been its CEO since 2001.

Of note

Brymer was something of an unknown quantity when Wren appointed him to head up DDB: Up to that point, he'd spent his career at a branding agency and didn't have deep ties in the ad community. But Brymer was paired with a seasoned creative exec—Bob Scarpelli, a DDB veteran and now company's chief creative officer—and the duo now preside over the agency's 206 offices in 96 countries and tend to a client list that includes Clorox, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald's, Nikon, Bud Light, Diet Pepsi, and Volkswagen. While it's bit too early to judge Brymer's tenure atop the ad mega-agency, DDB has its share of challenges. Several major clients have since left the firm, including Home Depot and JC Penney. One decidedly brighter note was landing the account for Lipton Tea, which defected to DDB in March 2007.

In print

At Interbrand, Brymer was widely known for overseeing "The World's Most Valuable Brands," in partnership with Business Week. He co-authored the book Brands and Branding in partnership with the Economist.

Personal

Brymer lives in Greenwich with his wife Tracy.