Effective immediately, he will continue to work out of Essence’s San Francisco office and reports to Global CEO, Christian Juhl
Global digital agency, Essence, has promoted Nick Byrd (pictured) to the role of Global Chief Financial Officer. He previously served as Global Financial Director, a position he was promoted to less than a year after being hired as North America CFO in November 2013.
Over the past two years, he has spearheaded the global re-organisation of the finance team, established key business principles and best practices as well as played an integral role in shepherding the deal that led to WPP buying a majority stake in the agency at the end of 2015.
Prior to Essence, Byrd spent eight years at Razorfish, moving from Director of Finance to North America Director of Client Finance, and finally Vice President of US Client Finance at the time of his departure. In his new role, he will oversee the finance, information technology, and facilities teams globally.
“Now that we’re under the GroupM umbrella, there is an even higher demand for our continued expansion. The leadership of someone like Nick is fundamental to the ultimate success of our agency and I’m pleased he’s the one getting the job done,” said Christian Juhl, Global CEO of Essence.
The firm is more than 500 people strong, manages more $850MM in media spend and deploys campaigns in 71 markets via offices in London, New York, San Francisco, Seattle,Singapore, and Tokyo. Its clients include Google, Viber, method, Tesco Mobile, and the Financial Times.
