Walker Media has ended its eight-month search for a fourth managing
partner with the appointment of the former Saatchi & Saatchi media
director, Ron Mudge.
Mudge will manage the £100 million Dixons Group business. He
completes the second tier of management at Walker, reporting to the two
founding partners, Phil Georgiadis and Christine Walker.
Mudge headed Saatchis' in-house media operation until it was axed five
months ago, resulting in 12 job losses. Media planning was moved to its
sister media network, Zenith.
A well-known figure in the media industry with a career spanning nearly
20 years, Mudge had a brief stint as communications director at DMB&B
before returning to Saatchis to replace Mike Gorman as the head of the
restructured media unit in 1995. Before DMB&B, he was the group media
director at Saatchis and he also co-founded The Media Centre (now
MediaVest) in 1990 and was a founding partner of The Media Works in
1992.
Mudge has worked as a freelance consultant over the past five
months.
At Walker Media, Mudge will sit alongside the three managing partners -
the recently appointed Nick Walker, the former group director at
Optimedia, and Jon Horrocks and Nicki Hare, who have been with the
agency since it was launched three- and-a-half years ago. He replaces
Steve Anderson who died in March 2001.
Georgiadis said: "The Dixons Group business is highly challenging and
Ron's vast all-round experience will, I'm sure, be applied vigorously."
