Agnes Fischer named US CEO of Grey, Samira Ansari promoted to US CCO

WPP heritage agency Grey has made notable leadership changes across its U.S. offices as it continues to realign under WPP’s new structure for Grey and Ogilvy.

Agnes Fischer has been named U.S. CEO, promoted from CEO of Grey New York, while Samira Ansari, formerly CCO of Ogilvy New York, has been appointed U.S. chief creative officer at Grey.

The moves will bring Grey’s New York and Cincinnati studios under one unified leadership team, with a mission of accelerating growth for the agency’s clients and creative talent.  

Fischer will report to Laurent Ezekiel, global CEO of Ogilvy Group. Since taking the New York CEO role in January, Fischer has helped expand the agency’s client roster, most recently signing Mary Kay and The Almond Board of California (ABC). 

Fischer also helped oversee an award-winning Super Bowl spot for Georgia-Pacific’s Angel Soft. She previously served as president of BBH USA and held leadership roles at Droga5 and Anomaly. Her client work includes P&G, JPMorganChase, Google and the award-winning Truth campaign for The New York Times. 

Fischer said her new role — and Grey’s realignment under Ogilvy — is a necessary evolution for the agency, allowing it to better tap talent across both Cincinnati and New York.

“Being able to unite the two offices so we can bring a comprehensive offering to our clients felt like a no-brainer,” Fischer said. “I’m honored and thrilled that they’ve charged me with doing it. We are cross-pollinating the teams, so it’s not going to feel like two different offices. It’s just going to feel like blended teams.”

At Grey, Ansari will help shape the creative vision across the agency’s U.S. studios. She joined Ogilvy in 2023 as CCO of the New York office after serving in the same role at Deutsch New York.

During her tenure at Ogilvy, Ansari’s creative team helped secure $40 million in new business and contributed to the agency being ranked among the top three creative agencies globally at the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival. Work for Coca-Cola earned Ogilvy its first Grand Prix in a decade with Recycle Me, as well as helping Nestlé’s San Pellegrino water earn its first Lion for With Love, Italy. 

“I’m always one for pushing brands where they haven’t gone before,” Ansari said. “I’m obsessed with TikTok and everything that happens in social media, so putting brands into people’s hands and pushing them into culture has always been the thing that I’ve tried to do.”

Fischer said that since arriving at Grey, she’s emphasized that every idea must be inherently social.

“Bringing that mentality is precisely why I love Sami for this job. She brings with her a modernity and, frankly, the future of what creativity is going to look like,” Fischer said.

Ansari’s portfolio includes Sports Emmy-winning work on McEnroe vs. McEnroe for Michelob Ultra in 2023, as well as the Michelob Ultra Courtside collaboration with the NBA and Microsoft. The work stemmed from her time at FCB, where she partnered with Gabriel Schmitt. She is no stranger to Grey, having previously worked in New York as a group creative director from 2014 to 2017.

“Bringing Sami back to Grey is more than a move; it’s like getting the band back together,” said Schmitt, global CCO at Grey. “She was my very first hire when I became co-CCO at FCB NY, and there she led some of the most famous work in the world.”

According to Grey, Fischer and Ansari will give clients access to the agency’s best talent and integrated solutions. Fischer added that Ansari is a new-business powerhouse and said she is eager to see what they can build together.

“I think we need a leader like her to really help us continue on with the momentum and convert,” Fischer said.

Guillermo Vega will now take on the CCO role for New York in addition to his role as CCO of North America.

A continued realignment

Earlier this year, WPP moved Grey under Ogilvy’s direction as part of a broader effort to consolidate processes across the holding company. The move ended Grey’s alignment with AKQA Group, which had been in place since 2020. Under the new structure, Grey remains a standalone brand but now reports to Ogilvy. 

More recently, WPP consolidated Grey and Ogilvy’s global back-office operations, including finance, HR and IT. While the agency brands will remain separate, WPP leadership told staff earlier this year that it would “find opportunities to deepen collaboration and drive growth for both Grey and the broader Ogilvy network.”

“This is a better alignment of values of what we do as an agency, and I’ve felt nothing but support from Ogilvy Group,” Fischer said.

She added that the realignment has been effective so far. When Grey needs to operate independently, as it did when winning Mary Kay, it can. When additional resources are needed, as with the Almond Board of California, the agency can draw on Ogilvy’s network. 

Laura Maness, who served as Grey’s global CEO for three years, left the agency in October. At the time, Grey said it would not appoint a new global CEO, instead splitting leadership responsibilities between Schmitt and Jason Kahner, global chief client officer.

“These appointments truly underscore the strength of talent we cultivate across Ogilvy Group whether at Ogilvy, Grey, David, Ingo, Thjnk or the broader WPP network,” Ezekiel said in a statement. “We are committed to fostering environments where exceptional leaders like Agnes and Sami can step into expanded roles, driving significant impact for our clients and our agencies.”

Editor’s Note: This article was updated on December 16th, 10:45AM EST, to reflect Guillermo Vega taking over the CCO role for New York in addition to his role as CCO of North America.