Stagwell has appointed David Sable vice chair, a role tasked with driving new solutions for clients as well as boosting organic growth by persuading existing clients to add more Stagwell services. He reports to Chairman and CEO Mark Penn, who has known the former Y&R CEO for two decades.   

"David's fingerprints are all over the best of modern marketing – from pioneering work for companies like Microsoft, Colgate-Palmolive and USPS to his time helping challengers in 'The Startup Nation' accelerate to the global stage," stated Penn. "He's a force of transformation with a tested client track record and a purposeful leader to boot.” 

Sable is an industry luminary with a career spanning four decades at top global agencies. He was global CEO and chairman of WPP’s Y&R from 2011 to 2019 before helping to implement the merger of VML & Y&R. Following the merger he was non-executive chairman of the merged entity and then a senior advisor to WPP.   

Earlier he was vice chairman and chief operating officer at Wunderman, the WPP agency that later merged with sibling ageny JWT to form Wunderman Thompson. He also served in senior roles at Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe.  

Sable served as jury president three times at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, is a former chairman of the Advertising Council's Board of Directors and was a director-at-large of the 4As for many years.  

"Stagwell is the Yoda of the marketing industry: smart, hard-working, caring, and committed to the 'Do....there is no try' philosophy,” said Stable, adding that he was looking forward to bringing his decades of experience “across clients, creative, media, insights, and life, and pay it all forward in the biggest way possible."