Toby Southgate
"Great ideas, and truly great ideas, maybe even like the ones that Fritz Haller expressed 60 years ago, they only go away if you let them, and they need people to hold onto them and nurture them and keep pushing for them"
Toby was appointed CEO of Forsman & Bodenfors, one of the world's most celebrated creative companies, in summer 2021. His passions are ideas, transformation, and all things Italian - food, wine, cars, art, architecture, landscapes.
Prior to Forsman & Bodenfors, he spent 4 years as Global Chief Growth Officer at McCann Worldgroup. He led the strategic growth function and ran the European Business Leadership Community, with responsibility for clients including Microsoft, L'Oreal, Mastercard, The Coca-Cola Company, Nestle and eBay. While there, the agency won Network of the Year at Cannes Lions in 2019, and Effies Network of the Year 5 years in a row.
Before joining Worldgroup, Toby spent 10 years at WPP's brand consulting unit, Brand Union, working to build and launch teams for clients including Vodafone, Dell, Bank of America, GSK and IAG. He was WPP's youngest network CEO and led Brand Union to its first major successes at Cannes and the Effies.