By Sam Bradley  •  December 30, 2025  •

Ivy Liu

“I’m a strong believer of [being] in person and being with people, with our team and our clients. It’s about more than just the business, it’s understanding them as individuals as well,” she said.

Timmerman’s a member of an executive cohort growing in prominence with agency C-suites. Her counterparts include WPP’s Jane Geraghty and Omnicom’s Jacki Kelley, who was named chief client officer (CCO) of the newly reconstituted group at the beginning of December. Since 2024, Louise Peacocke has held a similar role at Starcom, while Dentsu promoted Jeff Greenspoon into a global chief client officer role in February.

The role isn’t restricted to the media side of the aisle. The Martin Agency, Neverland, Uncommon each appointed chief client officers this year while Havas Creative Network appointed Tamara Greene chief client officer of its global brand clients in January.

A Havas veteran of 17 years, Greene suggested the rising profile of the role was a consequence of a boardroom course correction. “There’s a bit of a gap at an executive level of someone or people who are severely and purely focused on the needs of the client,” she said.

Amid a growth in project-based work taken on by creative agencies, CCOs are tasked with maturing client relationships from month-long flirtations into the decade-spanning retainers that underpin agency business models.

“We all want longer [agency of record] relationships. But you have to build those strong, lasting relationships with clients, and you need people who are laser focused on doing that,” said Greene.

Timmerman cites the growing complexity of big media accounts — which now involve a carousel of data partnerships and media channels they didn’t cover even five years ago — as a factor. “When [an agency is] fragmented, things start to fall down. Having a more holistic approach is more beneficial,” she said.

“Everything’s becoming more complex,” said Pip Hulbert, who is chief client officer for international markets (that is, the EMEA and APAC regions) at VML.

“It’s not just about building brands and having a creative platform. It’s also being able to grapple with fragmented media, evolving consumer behaviors, rapid technological advancements,” she said.

Executives with responsibility for client services have always held weight within agencies. Greene, however, suggested the latest crop of “client officers” — which often maintain their own teams of direct reports — represent an evolution from the older model of client services leaders, which typically operated as soloists.

How these roles fit into an agency’s structure differs. Hulbert, who formerly led VML in the U.K. and Ireland as CEO, works alongside Jen McDonald, her counterpart for the Americas, and reports to global chief client officer Eric Campbell.

London-based Greene reports to Havas Creative’s global CEO Donna Murphy and runs a direct team of eight staffers; her portfolio covers Havas’ global accounts such as audio brand JBL or brewer Asahi.

In each case, however, they take a leading role in new business endeavors. Hulbert’s remit stretches from pitching through to client onboarding, and then places her as a “sponsor” of a client account thereafter.

“Building that relationship and that trust and that credibility… starts at the pitch process,” said Greene, who noted that she led pitches on many of the clients in her direct portfolio.

If it starts at the pitch, operators like Greene and Timmerman maintain it in person. 

While agencies (especially on the media side of the sector) look to data and AI chops to win their next client, face-time is becoming more important. That’s because, as they pursue economies of scale through the use of AI, agencies also risk commoditising their go-to market proposition and losing whatever edge, or point of differentiation, they previously held.

“There is more client face to face interaction now than I even remember in the pre covid days,” she said. 

With that in mind, it’s possible to see a strong argument for creating champion (or sponsor, to take Hulbert’s phrase) roles like a chief client officer.

“They want us to function as an extension of their team,” said Greene.