Emma Montgomery Returns to Australia as CEO of Leo Burnett Sydney

Leo Burnett Australia announces the appointment of Emma Montgomery to the role of CEO, Leo Burnett Sydney. She will commence her new role in mid-March.

This appointment sees Emma returning to Leo Burnett, where she was head of strategy in Sydney from 2014 to 2016 and later held the position of president and chief strategy officer at Leo Burnett in Chicago. She has most recently been in the role of global co-chief strategy officer for TBWA/Worldwide based in Los Angeles.

Leo Burnett Australia CEO, Melinda Geertz, said: “I’m absolutely thrilled that Emma is coming back home – to Sydney and to Leo Burnett. Emma’s a uniquely talented leader. She has deep and diverse experience – across creative, media, data and CX disciplines – and I have so much respect for her ability to open up new ways of thinking and challenge the status quo. Emma is a world-class leader, and we’re all excited to welcome her home and re-introduce her to our company, our people and our clients.”

Emma has spent most of her 20-plus year career in the Publicis Groupe. Prior to Leo Burnett, she was with Starcom for 16 years, working in Australia as a strategic planner, national research director and strategy director, and later, with SMG as a global product director. In her years at Leo Burnett Chicago, Emma led strategy and implementation, overseeing strategy and business leadership functions and helping to shape Leo Burnett’s HumanKind operating system. During her tenure she played a pivotal role in diversifying Leo’s offering, contributing to the agency being named an Ad Age Agency to Watch, and winning new clients across different sectors, amongst them, Coors Light, Campbells, Bank of America and Aldi.

“I can’t wait to get back to Australia and re-join Leo’s at a time when the entire marketplace has never needed creativity more." commented Emma. "Everyone is grappling with so much change, and this opens up exciting new opportunities for the clarity that the Leo Burnett approach can bring to navigate a fresh way forward. I am looking forward to diving in alongside Melinda, Jason (Williams), Andy (Fergusson) and the talented Sydney team as we write the next chapter of a company I love.”