Brian McMahon, a 25-year IPG veteran and the founding CEO of Orion, is retiring from IPG and will take on leadership alongside his wife, Karen, of MRDW, their global realty development company. 

McMahon joined IPG in 1998 as Global CEO of media agency Orion. The company’s flagship entity is a corporate trade agency that exchanges client goods and services for media time. Over the years McMahon expanded the group to include investment and printing businesses and other specialist firms. Orion now operates in more than two dozen countries.  

He also oversaw and reshaped several IPG specialty units, including Newspaper Services of America, Wahlstrom, Rapport, ID Media and BPN.   

In early 2021, McMahon joined IPG corporate as a senior business advisor. Orion veteran Laura Ryan was tapped to run the company as Global President.  

“Brian is not only a strong leader and business creator, he’s been one of our biggest advocates for diversity, equity and inclusion during his entire career with IPG,” said company CEO Philippe Krakowsky. “Under his leadership, Orion was consistently among the highest ranked agencies in IPG’s company-wide Climate for Inclusion survey... We thank him for his service to our company and wish Karen and Brian the best of luck in their enterprise together.” 

MRDW has had projects featured in many publications, including HGTV Magazine and Architectural Digest, and in design books. Karen McMahon is a three-time cancer survivor and has been designing and building homes in multiple countries for over 30 years. MRDW recently broke ground on a 52-acre project in Galway, Ireland.   

“I have loved my time at IPG – especially the people I’ve been honored to call colleagues,” said McMahon. “Much of our success has been thanks to Philippe, who has been a terrific mentor for me personally over the decades. I’m looking forward to this next chapter.”