Omnicom Group Inc. announced the appointment of Chris Foster as CEO of Omnicom Public Relations Group (OPRG) effective June 28. Foster will oversee the public relations portfolio within Omnicom, focusing on talent, innovation and cross-agency collaboration to drive growth. Current interim CEO, John Doolittle, will become the Chairman of OPRG.
“I am pleased to welcome Chris to Omnicom as CEO of OPRG,” said John Wren, CEO of Omnicom Group. “With his passion for talent and proven ability to drive growth through innovation, I look forward to OPRG’s continued success under his leadership.”
“Chris comes to us with significant, hands-on agency leadership experience. His fluency in integrated marketing communications and his data-centered approach will be a tremendous asset to our clients and our business,” said Doolittle. “I am excited to work with Chris as he leads OPRG into the future.”
Foster has over two and a half decades of communications experience within agencies and consulting firms, leading global growth initiatives, counseling executive-level clients and driving business development. His work lives at the intersection of digital, analytics and reputation strategy, building campaigns that consistently drive business results for clients across the public and private sectors.
“We’ve learned over the past year the incredible power of communications within an organization to effect real change in how customers, employees and stakeholders think and act,” said Foster. “I am excited to join OPRG as CEO, leading our agencies into a new era of data-driven communications, fueled by some of the most creative and innovative minds in the industry.”
OPRG announced in January the launch of omniearnedID, a patent-pending insights to analytics platform. Based on audience ID’s, it provides behavior-based audience intelligence, more accurate customer journeys, cultural trend analysis and prediction, and the ability to map earned exposure to brand health and sales.
Foster serves on the Board of Directors for The LAGRANT Foundation, The Institute for Public Relations, 4A’s, Public Relations Counsel (Vice Chairman) and the University of Virginia’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. Foster is also a founding member of the Black Executive CMO Alliance (BECA) founded in April 2021. He was named to PR Week’s “U.S. Power List” in 2018 and has been a guest lecturer at Columbia University School of Continuing Studies, the University of Maryland and Western Kentucky University. In 2017, Foster published his first book, “Reputation Strategy and Analytics in a Hyper-Connected World”.
