Kirsty Muddle Named CEO of Ogilvy Australia & New Zealand

By: WE staff | Wednesday, 8 October 2025

• Kirsty Muddle is appointed CEO of Ogilvy Australia and New Zealand
• She will be in charge of all of Ogilvy's services, ranging from advertising, PR, social and influencer, customer engagement, consulting, and health

Kirsty Muddle has been named CEO of Ogilvy for Australia and New Zealand, replacing Sally Kissane, who departed the agency earlier in the year.

She will oversee all of Ogilvy's capabilities across advertising, PR, social and influencer, customer engagement, consulting, and health, and will take up the role in early 2026.

Kirsty referred to her appointment on LinkedIn as an "honour and privilege" to head one of the world's most well-known creative agencies in the region.

With more than 25 years of experience, she has both founded businesses from scratch and led established businesses.

She comes to Ogilvy from Dentsu, where she was CEO of Practices & Products, Australia and New Zealand, managing creative, PR, government, customer experience, Salesforce, insight, data and technology, commerce, and B2B marketing and media.

Before joining Dentsu, Kirsty was a founding partner at cummins&partners, where she built the agency's creative profile over 11 years. She was also at Mindshare in the UK and Australia for nine years, dealing with media planning.

Kirsty has earned the title of Woman of the Year and Executive of the Year and is currently a member of the boards of the Australian Council of Advertising (ACA), Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), and Indigenous social change agency Ridgeway.

Referring to Ogilvy, she clarified that the agency was focused on melding creativity with technology, AI, and data, while still maintaining a faith in creativity as a business driver, which is the biggest reason for both businesses to exist.

Laurent Ezekial, Ogilvy Group Global CEO, in welcoming Muddle, acknowledged her "track record of delivering value and impact for clients" as well as her ability to unify diverse capabilities into an outcome that delivers a great result. Rose Herceg, WPP Australia and New Zealand President, described her as a "standout choice" when mentioning that she possesses a combination of creativity, business sense, and an ability to be sensitive to a changing media landscape.

The expectation of what Kirsty's hire will offer is likely a more entrepreneurial voice to Ogilvy to support the agency and clients in keeping ahead of a fast-moving industry.