Lintas picks JWT man as chief

Ammirati & Puris/Lintas is understood to be appointing J Walter Thompson’s worldwide director of strategic planning, William Eccleshare, as chief executive.

Eccleshare will fill the vacancy left by Richard Hytner who is leaving the agency after turning down a place on the A&P/L board in New York (MW last week).

Hytner assumed the role of chief executive in October following the merger of SP Lintas, where he was chief executive officer, and Lintas i.

Eccleshare was formerly joint managing director of JWT with Dominic Proctor, who is now the agency’s chief executive. When Proctor took on his present role, he became chief executive of PPGH/JWT, the group’s operation in Amsterdam.

Last March, Eccleshare returned to London after two and a half years to take on the position of worldwide director of strategic planning.

Eccleshare has spent his whole career at JWT, having joined the agency as a graduate trainee in 1978 to work on Rowntree. He then worked on all the agency’s multinational accounts including Kellogg, Unilever and Nestlé.

He will report to deputy chairman and executive creative director Andrew Cracknell. It was Cracknell’s appointment over Hytner, last autumn, which is believed to be one of the reasons behind Hytner’s departure.

Eccleshare has resigned from JWT but AP/L refuses to confirm that he is joining the agency.