CPR boss steps down
The shakeup of Photon Group has continued with CPR boss Adam Kilgour departing the Photon-owned PR firm, the company said today.
In a note to staff, CEO jeremy Philips said:
“Adam Kilgour, who was Managing Director, Specialised Communications and Executive Chairman of CPR, has decided to leave Photon to pursue other career opportunities. We are delighted that he will become Special Counsel at CPR and continue to be available for advice and support at CPR and across the group. Adam has had a long and successful career at Photon, and has played an important leadership role – both within the company, with clients and in the broader community. I would like to thank Adam for his outstanding contribution and wish him well for the future and hope that we continue to see a lot of him as he continues to work with CPR.”
It follows this morning’s confirmation that Bellamy Hayden is to close with most staff moving Naked Communications
The news from Philips came as part of a longer memo to all Photon staff. His note said:
Dear Colleagues:
On Friday, shareholders voted to approve Photon’s recapitalisation. This is great news as it means that we have now passed the final substantive hurdle in relation to our financing. The shareholder offer closes on Thursday and all the final pieces of this process will be wrapped up by the end of the month.
In the meantime, there have been some changes happening across the group as we start to put a new operational structure in place.
A key part of the restructure involves consolidation and increased collaboration. The aim is to improve our capabilities, derive efficiencies, and simplify our structure and management. In a number of cases we are combining related businesses serving similar clients to create a larger entity with stronger capabilities.
Last week, for instance, UK-based Likemind and Corporate Edge announced that they were joining forces to create an integrated branding and corporate communications agency. You can get some sense of how excited both groups are about this combination by what they have written themselves.
Today Naked Australia and Bellamy Hayden – the two most awarded Australian communications agencies — have announced they are merging to create a “strategic and creative powerhouse”.
Over the coming weeks there will be more mergers and alliances implemented. All this change of course means some disruption for those involved, but once things get settled we will start to see the long-term benefits of strengthening our offering to clients and working more closely together. I have been very impressed by how constructively everyone is looking at these opportunities and focusing on optimising our long-term position.
Across the group we are in the process of implementing the new divisional structure that we have discussed previously. As you may have seen last week, Matthew Melhuish will join Photon’s senior management team in the role of Head of Australian Agencies. Many of you know Matt well; he is a founder of BMF and has been the CEO for the past 15 years.
We also announced that Jon Wilkins is moving into a newly created role of Head of Group Development & Strategy with a mandate to drive greater collaboration amongst our businesses and to grow the services we offer to clients. Jon had been Managing Director of the Integrated Communications & Digital division, which will now form a large part of the Australian Agencies division.
We are very pleased to welcome Matt to his new role within Photon. His leadership, both at BMF and across the industry, will be invaluable as we bring together Photon’s agencies here in Australia. Also having Jon dedicated to group development and strategy will have real benefits for the way we work together.
As part of the operational restructure, the Internet & E-Commerce division will no longer operate as a stand-alone division, instead becoming a core capability across the group, and the agencies within the former Specialised Communications division will join either the Australian Agencies or International Agencies divisions.
Mark Dalgleish, who was Managing Director, Internet & E-Commerce and a founder and Executive Chairman of C4 will continue to advise at C4 for the remainder of the year. His leadership during a difficult period for the Internet division is very much appreciated. C4’s ongoing success is a testament to the great work from Mark and the team there.
Adam Kilgour, who was Managing Director, Specialised Communications and Executive Chairman of CPR, has decided to leave Photon to pursue other career opportunities. We are delighted that he will become Special Counsel at CPR and continue to be available for advice and support at CPR and across the group. Adam has had a long and successful career at Photon, and has played an important leadership role – both within the company, with clients and in the broader community. I would like to thank Adam for his outstanding contribution and wish him well for the future and hope that we continue to see a lot of him as he continues to work with CPR.
To everyone: thank you again for all of your efforts over the last few months. I am looking forward to working with you on the next phase, as we focus on our restructure and operational improvements to position ourselves well for the future.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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A blow – Adam Kilgour is as good as it gets…
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didn’t Adam K found CPR? what’s going on here?
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I would really love to know who founded CPR. I was under the impression that Bill Sherman established it years ago and then it was sold to a NZ group and then sold to Photon. Can anyone shed any light?
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Kilgour founded the firm and is the reason behind its success.His departure is a massive blow no matter how they spin it. (i.e ‘special counsel’). Who will run CPR now?
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(Edited by Mumbrella for legal reasons)
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