LONDON — Golin has ended its search for a new London lead, promoting Ondine Whittington, the MD of specialist sister agency Virgo Health, to a new group MD role across both businesses.

Former Golin London managing director Bibi Hilton moved into a new role in November, heading up the Unilever account across IPG’s agencies, while deputy MD Emily Luscombe moved to Instinctif Partners last month. The London office also lost Golin joint CEO Jon Hughes at the end of last year as part of a global leadership restructure.

Golin acquired Virgo Health – which was founded by Angie Wiles and Sarah Matthew in 2003 – in 2012. Whittington, who had joined the healthcare agency in 2006, was promoted to the MD role in 2016. Over the past four years, she has grown the business and managed the transition from founder-led to network agency. Two years ago, the Virgo team moved into Golin’s London offices.

Whittington will report into Golin CEO Matt Neale, who said: “Ondine brings unparalleled agency leadership to Golin London. We went out to the market to find the right hire for this critical role, but soon realised that the perfect candidate was already in our family.

“During her time at Virgo Health, Ondine has demonstrated an incredible ability to drive growth, build client relationships, collaborate and assemble integrated teams. Most importantly, she knows how to build and motivate high-performing teams balanced with a truly inclusive and supportive working culture.”

Whittington told PRovoke Media: “It was a great opportunity. Last year was a really good year for Virgo and part of the strategy was leaning into being part of the fabric of Golin as there are so many great people and opportunities for cross-fertilisation. We are already working together in an integrated way so when the leadership changes happened and Matt asked me what I thought, it made an incredible amount of sense from a business point of view.

“I’ve been doing it informally for a couple of months to see if it’s right for us all, and it’s clear there are a lot of areas of synergy where having one person overseeing both businesses will unlock more opportunities for collaboration.”

Whittington confirmed the two agencies would stay as separate entities, not least to avoid client conflicts: “IPG are very good at seeing equity in the brands they acquire, and while there are areas of crossover, Virgo and Golin retain distinct cultures.”

She added that her elevation meant that she would need senior support in both businesses: “We have brilliant leadership teams and part of the process is how we now evolve. This is a milestone that allows us to think about opportunities for people in the business, where the gaps might be, and how we think about filling them on both sides.”