ST LOUIS — JJ Carter will become president and CEO of FleishmanHillard on 1 October, with John Saunders taking on the chairman role after nine years in charge of the OPRG network.

Carter, who joined FleishmanHillard in 2005, has spent the past eight years as the agency’s global chief operating officer and Americas president. He will report to OPRG CEO Chris Foster.

"JJ has the experience, skills and vision to rapidly expand on the legacy of FleishmanHillard. I am confident in his ability to drive innovation, teamwork and growth that will accelerate FleishmanHillard’s excellence and expand relationships with clients around the world,” said Foster. “We are grateful for John’s decades of commitment and leadership and look forward to his ongoing guidance as chairman of FleishmanHillard.” 

Saunders, becomes chairman after a 37-year relationship with FleishmanHillard, which began in his native Ireland, before leading the firm's EMEA operations. "JJ and I have worked very closely together throughout this time," said Saunders of his tenure as global CEO. "He's the person that I felt had all the skills to bring this firm forward."

Under Saunders' leadership, FleishmanHillard returned to consistent growth, winning North America and Global Agency of the Year, the latter for the first time in its history. Carter flagged increasing specialisation and technology as two areas where the firm will continue to evolve.

"Clients are demanding more specialization in terms of skills than ever and for a firm of our size and scale, it takes a lot of intentionality to deliver that — and we have certainly begun to do that," said Carter. "You would have seen a number of highly specialized hires that we brought in earlier this year, whether that was in cybersecurity and privacy, communications or social impact, intelligence and creative. And we'll continue those trends and look to get that to the farthest reaches of our network as soon as possible."

"We also have to learn how to work alongside the new tech platforms that are starting to reach the marketplace," added Carter. "I do think looking at how we leverage technology and innovation in our core work is going to be the real frontier that will allow us to pick up a lot of momentum. It will allow us to change the way that we work and ultimately to bring higher impact and more effective solutions forward to clients. We have begun that, but for a firm of our size — with over a thousand clients — getting that level of consistency and that level of standard to every client relationship and in the hands of every consultant is quite a big task."

FleishmanHillard will appoint a successor for Carter's role as Americas CEO and chief operating officer, who is expected to be in place shortly after Carter's official elevation on 1 October. 

Carter has been with FleishmanHillard since 2005 in a variety of key leadership roles. He previously oversaw the agency’s East and West regions in the US along with Canada and Mexico, was general manager of one of the firm’s largest offices in San Francisco, was global client relationship manager for one of the agency’s biggest multinational accounts, and launched the agency’s global sports marketing practice. 

Saunders, meanwhile, will step back after 34 years with the firm, spending more time with family and with his beloved Everton FC. "There's other things I want to do, including planning my retirement to coincide with a move to [Everton's new] stadium."