Charlotte Beers Takes Top Job at Ogilvy

Charlotte Beers, one of the most prominent women executives in the advertising agency business, was named Thursday to succeed Graham Phillips as chairman and chief executive of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide.

Beers is taking the top job at the nation’s third-biggest ad agency only two months after announcing her resignation as head of the much smaller Tatham RSCG of Chicago and as vice chairman of its Paris-based parent, Euro RSCG.

Her search for another advertising job had been closely followed by the ad industry, which will now be watching to see if she can handle the complexities of an international agency hurt by recent key account and personnel losses.

“Ogilvy turned out to be irresistible to me. I’ve always considered it a pinnacle of advertising,” she said in an interview.

In Thursday’s statement, Ogilvy said Phillips had agreed at Beers’ request to stay on as vice chairman.