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← Back to IdeasRaising a Glass to Carla Hendra
Carla Hendra, Global CEO of Ogilvy Consulting, today announced her retirement from the agency after an illustrious 28-year career. Ogilvy's Chairman Emeritus Shelly Lazarus reflects on the impact Carla has had on Ogilvy and the industry below.
Carla’s contribution to Ogilvy was profound. She joined us just at a point when the world was changing. We were soon entering the internet boom and needed someone exceptional to lead us there. Enter Carla Hendra.
Before it was obvious, Carla anticipated a world where digital technologies are mainstream, and digital marketing would no longer be “new media,” but central to people’s lives and businesses everywhere. Her early and earnest passion for and understanding of the power of digital media helped direct Ogilvy’s early entry into the new media landscape.
I remember attending a meeting in Dublin where Carla gathered a team from around the world, people who went on to be the leadership of Ogilvy One. I was sitting at a table amazed by the people around me who were now part of Ogilvy – engineers, data analysts, all the professions that formerly had nothing to do with us – until Carla saw the future and brought them in. She was so eclectic in her areas of interest and curiosity that she was able to bring in people who traditionally would never dream of working for a company called Ogilvy. And that made a huge difference. We were able to get the talent we needed for the future before the war for talent even began.
Carla always thought big. She pushed us to make acquisitions in the digital area. She had a vision of what the future of our business was going to be. It is not an exaggeration to say that everything we are doing in digital today was made possible by Carla. She started us down that path.
Carla is a natural silo-breaker because she always starts from the client need and works her way back. That orientation is always going to bring things together rather than split them apart. Beyond the success of Ogilvy One, Carla set an example of how to integrate the work of our different divisions. Carla was a master of building teams that work across divisions, disciplines, and geographies (what is now encapsulated in what we call Borderless Creativity). This required focus, diligence, and a certain level of humor. Her exemplary partnership with Bill Gray in running the flagship New York office brought together disparate units of the agency. This was critical to the future direction of the company.
Ogilvy Consulting is yet another example of Carla’s visionary entrepreneurism. She was always steps ahead, pushing us to set up competencies to lead us and our clients into the future.
Carla has done all this while raising three amazing children. As a mother of three myself, I appreciate the skills that it takes to balance a demanding work and home life. Carla has done it with aplomb. She was a role model for women in the agency and in the industry, especially in the data and tech spheres where women in leadership positions were far and few between.
Carla Hendra made all the difference to Ogilvy. We are forever in her debt.