Ex-TBWA chief oversees Iris expansion plans

Iris, the integrated agency network, has appointed former TBWA chief Paul Bainsfair (pictured), to the new role of European chief executive. He will be charged with leading the network’s aggressive expansion plans in the region.

Bainsfair, previously TBWAEurope president, has been working as a non-executive director with Iris since October but will join full-time from January 19. He will report into Ian Millner, group chief executive and founder of Iris.

His appointment comes as part of the network’s expansion drive, which has seen it launch offices in Paris, Amsterdam and Munich.

Before running the TBWA network across Europe, Bainsfair was managing director of Saatchi & Saatchi, going on to establish his own agency, Bainsfair Sharkey Trott (BST. BST was later bought by GGT, which merged with the TBWA network in 1998.

He is the second regional chief executive to be appointed. In February last year Richard Bleasdale, previously group managing director of DDB group Singapore, was appointed regional chief for Asia Pacific.

Iris is also expected to announce the appointment of a regional chief executive for North America.

The Iris network has offices in London, Manchester, New York, LA, Portland, Miami, Singapore, Sydney and Delhi.

The appointments follow a £20m investment in the network last July by the Bank of Scotland Corporate.