• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, November 30, 2011

Paris-based agency holding company Publicis Groupe will begin the search for a new CEO next summer, according to Maurice Levy, who has been in the post for over two decades.

Levy broke the news to Reuters during its “Global Media Summit” on Wednesday. The company has been criticized for not having its leadership succession plan in place long before now. Levy is 69 and had planned to retire at the end of this year.

But the recent departures of several executives that were considered potential candidates to succeed Levy forced the company back to the drawing board on the succession issue. Those executives included David Kenny, the former co-head of Publicis Groupe media arm VivaKi, and Richard Pinder, former CEO of agency Publicis Worldwide.

Kenny left last year and Pinder parted ways earlier this year.

When it became clear that the company would not have someone in place to replace Levy at the end of the year, he agreed to stay on until transition plans are completed.

At the Reuters Media Summit, Levy said the search would focus on internal candidates first and then broaden to external candidates if necessary. The same day that Levy revealed the holding company’s latest plan to choose his successor, the company announced that all current management board members, including Levy, had been reappointed to new four-year terms.

In addition to Levy, executives on the management board include Jean-Yves Naouri, Groupe COO and executive chairman of Publicis Worldwide, Jean-Michel Etienne, executive vice president and CFO, Jack Klues, CEO of VivaKi and Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide. Naouri has been considered a strong candidate to succeed Levy in the past.

With the new plan to conduct an intensive in-house search before looking elsewhere, it’s hard to rule out any of the executives just reappointed to the management board. A Publicis Groupe rep confirmed that the entire board was unanimously reappointed by the company’s supervisory board, which is led by Elisabeth Badinter, who is the daughter of the late Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, founder of the Publicis Groupe.

The supervisory board will lead the search for Levy’s successor, no doubt with input from the current CEO. "We have to find the best man or woman with the best judgment and strategic mind and the capacity for taking this group to the next level," Levy said.