• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, August 14, 2018

Agency veteran Rob FitzGerald has been named president and chief operating officer at Cincinnati-based media shop Empower. 

UK native FitzGerald has worked in all aspects of the agency business all over the world, including strategy, social media, creative, media and operations. He has held senior roles at global agencies, serving as president of OMD in China and managing director of Initiative in Tokyo.

For the last 12 years he held senior roles at several New York operations including COO and media director at GlobalHue Ventures, managing director at Big Fuel, and most recently president of We Are Social.  

FitzGerald has worked with clients such as Adidas, Puma, Revlon, Kao, T-Mobile, Verizon, Pepsi, McDonald’s, P&G, and Unilever, among others. 

Commenting on the hire, Empower CEO Jim Price stated that FitzGerald “is a world-renowned strategic visionary who brings an authentic and cultural perspective to our business that will complement and challenge our talent and clients in all the right ways. We conducted a rigorous search for a president and COO who would embody our position as The Creative Media Agency that Builds Trust at Scale and deliver on it.” 

FitzGerald cited the agency’s “long history of trust and transparency, steady growth, and an appetite for evolving," adding: Additionally, Empower’s  independence offers a competitive edge of agility and flexibility that clients crave and holding companies struggle to provide. Simply put: Empower brings the rare opportunity to be professionally fulfilled and live a superior quality of life while being on the cutting edge of media-centric creativity.”