Andrew Robertson is the CEO of BBDO Worldwide, the monolithic ad agency controlled by Omnicom.

Born in Zimbabwe-his father started the country's first chain of soft-serve ice cream parlors-Robertson was raised in South Africa and England and started his ad career as a media planner at Ogilvy & Mather. After rising through the ranks at places like Ogilvy, J. Walter Thompson, UK-based WCRS, and then London's Abbott Mead Vickers, he eventually landed at BBDO's London office. In 2001, he moved to New York to take the job of president and CEO of BBDO North America, where he was tapped, at 44, to be youngest-ever CEO of the global agency. He now oversees BBDO Worldwide's 16,000 employees in 287 offices in 77 countries, and reports to Omnicom CEO John Wren. Since taking over, Roberston, along with with his chief creative officer David Lubars, has transformed the BBDO's work into wickedly offbeat, multiplatform advertising often associated with small indie agencies. In addition to existing clients like Chrysler, GE, Volkswagen, HBO, Gillette, Nike, and Pepsi, the agency now boasts new clients like eBay, Hertz, Motorola, Mitsubishi, and Target. All this has been great for BBDO's bottom line. Annual billings have been boosted by 30 percent to more than $4.6 billion.

The suspenders-wearing Robertson lives in Greenwich with his wife, Susan, whom he met during his days at Ogilvy. They have two daughters and a son.

[Image via Getty]